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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24627226">We Got The Whole World Ahead (And The Old World Behind)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter/pseuds/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter'>WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 100 (TV), The Darkest Minds (2018), The Darkest Minds Series - Alexandra Bracken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bellamy is in Project Jamboree, How Do I Tag, Lincoln and Lexa run a safe house to rescue kids from tracers, Multi, On the Run, a power couple that the world deserves (wait a little first though), raven and cole are the ultimate brotp, the delinquents are psi, yes i may be hinting at Raven and Vida</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 11:20:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>27,878</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24627226</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter/pseuds/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Darkest Minds x The 100 crossover.</p><p>Clarke Griffin's father died because he knew the cause of IAAN, and her mother tried to cover it up. Clarke is on the run with her two best friends and only real family, Jasper and Monty. Until they meet Finn, who tells them about East River.</p><p>Bellamy Blake revealed his red abilities as an age-outlier to help his sister Octavia escape so that she wouldn't be send to a camp, but now he's stuck in Project Jamboree.</p><p>John Murphy escaped Caledonia and found refuge in an abandoned shopping mall, but it's not as abandoned as he thought. </p><p>Nate Miller and his friend Mike broke out of Caledonia thanks to Liam Stewart and Jack Fields' escape plan, and now they're desperate to find East River. </p><p>Raven Reyes joined the Children's League in an attempt to track down her boyfriend Finn, but she has to hide the fact that she's an age-outlier, and an orange one at that.</p><p>Takes place during the events of The Darkest Minds series, uses some events from the books and a couple from the movie.</p><p>Enjoy :)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bellamy Blake &amp; Octavia Blake, Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Finn Collins/Clarke Griffin (minor), Finn Collins/Raven Reyes (implied), Monty Green &amp; Jasper Jordan, Nathan Miller/Mike (The Darkest Minds), Raven Reyes &amp; Cole Stewart, Raven Reyes/Vida Bautista</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Set Our Eyes West To Chase The Sunset</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Work title comes from the song "The World Is Mine" by Samm Henshaw.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Clarke tore through the trees, only turning around to make sure that Jasper and Monty were close behind her. The tracers had followed her and the two greens into the woods but Clarke refused to let herself or her friends get captured. Plus, she knew they’d be sent to a camp and she’d be sent to her mother at Leda Corp, which was probably one of her worst nightmares. </p><p>The forest thinned out and they reached a road with only fields on the other side. If they ran across the open landscape they’d be easy pickings… Clarke was beginning to believe that her luck had run out, and as Jasper and Monty arrived next to her, panting to catch their breath they seemed to collectively realise their fate. </p><p>Until the car pulled up next to them with a kid their age in the front seat. “Get in if you want to live!” he shouted, and they wasted no time in arguing as Clarke climbed into the passenger seat and Jasper and Monty threw themselves in the back. </p><p>“Get down!” Monty shouted as bullets tore through the back windshield, grabbing Jasper and pushing his friend down between the front and back seats. </p><p>Another car emerged in the distance, as two more tracers seemed to have already been tracking the car they were now travelling in. Then again, it was easier to lose them in the car than it would be across the open fields. </p><p>The kid driving ducked, narrowly missing another bullet that took out the driver’s side mirror. “Take the wheel!” he urged Clarke, who was forced to lean over and steer as the boy dangled himself out of the driver’s door, using his telekinesis to move a barrage of nails that he’d been keeping in the glove box out and into the path of the pursuing car. Another gunshot rang out and he pulled himself back inside as the vehicle swerved behind them, it’s tires punctured by the nails. “I’m—” he seemed about to introduce himself, but cut himself off as he put a hand down to his side. “Shot. I’m shot, apparently. That’s not good.” </p><p>Clarke’s eyes widened, “Pull over. Now. Monty, I’m gonna need you to drive.” The car skidded to a halt as the kid slammed on the brakes and Clarke and him swapped places with Monty and Jasper as Clarke put pressure on the wound on the boy’s side. “Somebody get me a damn first aid kit!” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p><em> I have to find Bellamy, I have to find Bellamy. </em> Octavia’s thoughts were on a loop as after her third day on the run she decided— against her better judgement— to return to her childhood home in an attempt to find out what happened to her brother. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, how it all went down, but she knew he had been hiding something for at least a week. One minute, they were at the door, asking about her and wanting to take her away. The next, the entire house was on fire and it wasn’t Octavia. Bellamy was shouting at her to run, to get out of there, and she did. </p><p>But she left him behind. </p><p>She had no idea that he was one of them, like her. One of the psi. He was too old, at least that’s what she’d thought. Octavia had heard the rumours, about the age outliers and how they were usually the most dangerous. To her, he was just Bellamy. Just her older brother. Just… <em> gone. </em> </p><p>Octavia knew how bad IAAN was when her friend Niylah died. They had been talking the day before, like nothing was wrong. She didn’t come into school the next day, or the day after, and the funeral was a month later. Within weeks, her class had gone from twenty to seven kids. </p><p>Then there was an incident involving herself and the toaster and she realised she was one of the few that had survived the virus, apparently making her more dangerous. They weren’t scared of how many kids had died, they were scared of the survivors. Octavia saw the news, she saw the orange symptom lists that got sent home from the school and she saw it online before the websites were taken down. </p><p>She was a yellow. </p><p>Which meant that she could control electricity, albeit not very well. </p><p>And Bellamy was a red. </p><p><em> Fire</em>, she remembered it clearly. He had caused the fire, so they had taken him instead of her. </p><p>Octavia knew the fire was bad. She’d had to cover her face when she escaped, running out the back door and out into the lane behind the house and she had kept running even when her feet went numb and her head began to spin. Bellamy had told her to run, and if he had been taken because of her, the least she could do was take his advice.</p><p>She stopped in her tracks, taking in the sight of what <em> used </em> to be her home. The charred remains looked nothing like the house she grew up in and Octavia took several unsteady steps backwards before she hit the fence at the end of the garden, sliding down it and curling her knees up to her chest.</p><p>Once again, her brother had done something reckless in order to protect her. </p><p>And now they had taken him.</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p><em> Escape. </em>The word had been fluttering around for a few days, but for the first time, John Murphy finally let himself believe it, and he clasped the sliver of hope that came along with it. People had been murmuring, hushed voices at mealtimes but not loud enough to hear. There weren’t any oranges (or reds, but that didn't matter) at Caledonia, the old elementary school that had been turned into a camp, so it wasn't like they could put the plan in anyone's minds. </p><p>He stared at the ceiling, which was really just the underneath of the bunk above. John Mbege. They weren’t close exactly, but they were… something like friends. Friend adjacent. Despite the fact that they hadn’t spoken in three weeks, he couldn’t help but wonder if the other boy would make it out alive. If <em> he </em> would make it out alive. </p><p>Of course he would. He was a survivor. He’d get out of here, and then he’d go on the run. </p><p>“Murphy,” Mbege hissed. The perks of being in a bunk room with a guy sharing the same first name meant that everyone only ever called you by the last name. Unless it was PSFs, in which case he was called his ID number, with added venom.</p><p>“Mbege?” he replied, wondering what the other boy was getting at. </p><p>“You heard? Apparently Stewart and Fields have a plan.” </p><p>Murphy rolled his eyes, “My life in the hands of Stewart the peacekeeper and Fields the artist? I’d take my chances with the PSFs, at least they’re not afraid to pick up a gun.” </p><p>The other John scoffed, “Have a little faith. We might finally be getting out of here.”</p><p>“Faith? You remember who you’re talking to, right?” </p><p>Mbege laughed, “John Murphy, ever the cynic.”</p><p>“John Mbege, ever the optimist.” </p><p>Before he could add another remark, tendrils of smoke began to work their way under the door, accompanied by the shrill fire alarm as the doors opened. “You were saying?”</p><p>“You think it’s happening?”</p><p>“I think I’d rather die than stay here any longer.” </p><p>The boys leapt out of their beds and ran out the door and into the smoke, even though they had no idea which direction it was coming from as it filled the corridors and choked their inhabitants. There was a surge of people as more kids joined the packed hallway, pushing both Johns forwards and separating them as the masses moved through the smoke. </p><p>Murphy’s yellow uniform whipped against his body as they managed to get outside and into the snow. It was freezing and he had lost sighed of Mbege but the only important thing seemed to be getting <em> out. </em> He could see it, the gate, and the crowd of kids surging towards it. The snow came up to just below his knees and Murphy was thankful that he hadn’t taken off his camp-regulation canvas shoes, even though they barely did anything. </p><p>The snow made the surrounding area blurry, and for a moment Murphy lost his footing, tripping over something half-buried in the snow. <em> A body. </em> Not just anybody, not just a PSF. <em> A kid. </em> He pulled himself up and suddenly became all too aware that it wasn’t just snow falling around them, it was kids too as the remaining PSFs opened fire onto the crowd, bullets splattering their thin uniforms almost as much as the snowflakes. </p><p>More and more of them dropped to the ground, their blood slowly tainting the snow beneath Murphy’s feet a dark crimson colour. There were three kids in blue uniforms by the gate and another kid ran around them, throwing himself at the metal only for his hair to stand up on end as the electricity coursed through his veins, killing him instantly. </p><p>They hadn’t turned off the gate. </p><p>
  <em>They hadn’t turned off the gate.</em>
</p><p>Something caught Murphy’s ankle and almost sent him tumbling again but when he turned around he realised it was another kid. Almost unharmed, at least physically. A yellow, like him. Her hair was buzzed down to her head and she shivered in the cold. </p><p>Yes, he was a survivor. But if no one got that gate open then they were all dead anyway. </p><p>She reached out her gloved hand, pleading, and he took it in his, hauling her up and carrying the small girl in his arms until he finally got to the gate and the gate had been <em> opened </em> and he was filled with such a sense of relief that he’d almost forgotten there were bullets flying at him in all directions. </p><p>One of the blue boys from before was looking around frantically and he locked eyes with Murphy, and he realised he was looking for the girl. Murphy handed her over wordlessly before running through the open gate and instantly falling over another body. He picked himself up, risking a glance down to see who it was and regretting it instantly. </p><p>
  <em>John Mbege, ever the optimist.</em>
</p><p>Cursing, he disappeared into the treeline, running and falling and getting up and running again until he couldn’t hear the sirens or the PSFs or the kids from Caledonia. </p><p>He collapsed, leaning against a tree and closing his eyes for a moment. Just a moment, he promised himself. Just to collect his thoughts, but a bright light woke him up as a car stopped nearby and soon he was running again. </p><p>And he kept running.</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Bellamy woke up in a dark room and the harsh reality of his situation finally hit him. He swore, fighting against the restraints that held him in place. If he hadn’t been so reckless, so <em> stupid </em> in his attempts to protect Octavia then maybe he wouldn’t be in this mess. Maybe he could’ve helped her escape and not burnt half the neighbourhood down, because that sends a pretty big fucking message.</p><p>
  <em> I’m a red. I’m a danger. I could kill you. </em>
</p><p>He looked around, trying to figure out where he was and attempting to call on the anger and frustration that coursed through his veins like he had been able to back in the house to see if it would break the ties around his wrists so that he could get that <em> damned </em> muzzle off his face. </p><p>
  <em> I’m a red. I’m a danger. I could kill you. </em>
</p><p>God, how many people had he killed in that fire? Bellamy knew he’d been caught, but he wasn’t even sure how many people had gone down in that house. <em> Octavia had gotten out</em>, he assured himself. <em> Octavia was safe. </em> Then it hit him, <em> if they were willing to break down his door to get to her, would she ever be safe? </em></p><p><em> I’m a red. I’m a danger. I could kill you. </em> </p><p>The thought repeated itself involuntarily and Bellamy tried to block it out. Think of something else, think of Octavia. Octavia. Octavia. Octavia Blake, your sister. The one thing that could always keep him grounded. Octavia. They’d taken him to a camp, he realised. One of the rehabilitation camps. <em> What a joke. </em> Bellamy scoffed, he knew there was no cure for this. <em> Some facility</em>, he laughed, the sound barely escaping the muzzle. </p><p>This shouldn’t have even happened. He was too old to have been affected by the virus. It shouldn’t have done anything. Yet here he was, four years above the suggested age, cursed to have fire running through his veins.</p><p>Bellamy looked around and realised that if he craned his neck he could just about see through the small window in the door. <em> Mount Weather Psychiatric Ward. </em> He’d heard of this place. He couldn’t remember where, but it was in Virginia, and it used to be a military base but it must have been converted into a camp when IAAN started. </p><p>The door he had been trying to look through swung open and a young woman wearing a white lab coat— flanked by armed guards on either side— walked in. She smiled, and Bellamy guessed that she was probably in her thirties. </p><p>“Mr Blake, glad you’re awake. My name is Dr Lorelei Tsing and I’m here to welcome you to Mount Weather Rehabilitation and Conditioning Centre. You have been chosen for Project Jamboree, follow us and we’ll help you get settled in,” she announced with a smile before turning on her heel and walking out the door. The guards unlocked the restraints attaching him to the chair and replaced them with different ones before leading him out of the door. </p><p>
  <em> Project Jamboree, what the fuck had he gotten himself into? </em>
</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Raven had done her research alright, she knew what she was getting herself into, but she didn’t care. On one hand, journalism was something she wanted to do, spread the <em> truth </em> about the camps and how they weren’t really for rehabilitation at all. On the other hand, she wanted to physically do something, and somehow just the words weren’t going to be enough, not if President Gray keeps shutting down every available network he can’t control. </p><p>Amplify could help, if she could only track them down. </p><p>The Children’s League, however? Well, that was another question entirely. They had approached her, offering a job. And she took it. Raven remembered the day like it was yesterday, when Kyle Wick stood in front of her, leaning against his car with an open invitation to take her to the Headquarters. </p><p>
  <em> “Are you getting in or not, Reyes? I haven’t got all day and you’re my last stop,” he shrugged, tapping the roof. “Tick tock, world needs saving and all that jazz.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She glanced at him one more time before sparing a final look at her old apartment. Amplify was out of the question, which meant it was either the Children’s League, or getting drafted, and something told her that wasn’t an option. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Jeez Wick, you act like I’m gonna say no. Of course I’m coming, you guys need me,” Raven picked her bag up off the curb and tossed it onto the backseat before climbing into the passenger side. </em>
</p><p>The Children’s League hadn’t just given her hope of helping. </p><p>It had given her hope for finding Finn.</p><p>Finn, her boyfriend and only real family. Finn, who had been taken to a camp in one of the first collections. The only reason she wasn’t with him was because she was a year older, and he was at the maximum age for showing symptoms of IAAN. Raven had been grasping at small signs of hope that he wouldn’t be taken, but he was. Almost immediately after he started showing signs of telekinesis. </p><p>She twisted the raven on her necklace as she pulled her boots on, remembering the birthday when he gave it to her. </p><p>
  <em> Finn. </em>
</p><p>Raven was going to find him, no matter what cost. Besides, he was the only one who knew her secret. Raven was an age-outlier by two years, and age-outliers were usually saddled with the more dangerous of the five abilities. Raven was an orange, and she hated every minute of it. </p><p>She began her day with a lap around the halls to get her blood pumping, before making her way down to the gym already sweaty for sparring with whoever was available. That was the thing about the League, they give you one day off a week from training but expect you to train anyway. Not that it bothered Raven, who revelled in any excuse to wipe the floor with Harper, a blue a year younger than her. Harper was freakishly good at hand to hand combat, and when they sparred she used to be able to knock down Raven cleanly and effortlessly, but after a few weeks of non-stop taking hits, Raven had slowly been able to work out her tactics and know they were evenly matched, with the loser of each round owing the winner their dessert for two days. </p><p>Of course, when the girls teamed up instead of becoming workout rivals, it turned out that they worked pretty well together. Except for the time Harper caught Raven in a headlock, the bare skin-on-skin contact letting her slip into the other girls mind with almost no way out, and letting her see things she was never meant to see. Things about Harper’s cousin and best friend Louis, who died of IAAN at some point during the year before she joined the League. The situation had caught Raven off guard and before she knew it, the blue was on top of her and pinning her to the mat, forcing her to tap out with a grin on her face.</p><p>Once Raven slapped the mat, rolling her eyes, Harper released her from her grip and held out a hand to help her up. Raven took it gladly, throwing up what she hoped was a wall between their two minds as she did so. It seemed to work and she stretched, rolling her shoulder from where it had hit the mat awkwardly. </p><p>“You alright, Reyes?” There was a hint of uncertainty in Harper’s voice, backed with slight guilt. </p><p>Raven pushed down the thoughts of Harper’s dead cousin that she definitely shouldn’t have seen before plastering a grin on her face, “Relax, McIntyre. Let me shower before we eat and then you’ll get my cake, as per our agreement.” </p><p>Harper winked, “If you don’t want to give it up, maybe you shouldn’t get so used to losing to me.” </p><p>“Says the person who I beat <em> last </em>time, if I recall correctly?” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>“<em>Nate</em>,” Mike whispered as his friend patched up the wound on the side of his arm with remnants torn from their old blue camp shirts. “I’m fine,” he reassured him. “Really.”</p><p>Miller rolled his eyes, taking on the same tone of voice that Mike had tried to use on him. “<em>Mike. </em> Thanks, but I’m not buying it. You got <em> shot.</em>”</p><p>Mike shrugged, wincing from the effort. “It was a graze, and it came out the other side. Thanks to you and your first aid skills, I’ll be fine.”</p><p>Finally having a chance to look around the clearing they’d ended up in, Miller realised that they’d have to get moving again soon if they didn’t want to catch bloody hypothermia. He was no doctor, but with the snow falling at the rate that it was they’d need to get someplace warm if they wanted any chance of living to the end of the week. </p><p>They did <em> not </em> just break out of a damn rehabilitation camp only to die in the snow. </p><p>“Where are we gonna go?” Miller sighed, “I’m pretty sure my dad’s been drafted, which means he won’t be home to help us.” </p><p>Mike’s mouth quirked up in a smile, “Who said he had to be there? We can lay low there for a bit, figure out our options.” </p><p>“We’re in <em> Ohio. </em> My dad lives in <em> Virginia. </em> Are you not seeing my issue here?” Miller raised an eyebrow. </p><p>He laughed, “We can hitchhike then.” Mike caught the unimpressed look on Miller’s face. “Nate, we <em> got </em> this.” </p><p>Miller rolled his eyes, placing his hand on his friend’s forehead. “The only thing you <em> got </em> is a fever. Must be something to do with the bullet wound.”</p><p>“<em>Graze</em>,” Mike corrected. “Shit, I can’t believe we pulled that off.” </p><p>“All thanks to Lee Stewart,” Miller smiled. “Hope he got out. Him, Jack and Chubs are the reason we’re still standing. Well, I’m still standing. You look like you’re about to pass out.” He passed Mike’s uninjured arm over his shoulder and hauled him to his feet, following the sound of vehicles in the distance. “Fine, we can hitchhike. But if your dumb idea gets us thrown back into a camp…” Miller trailed off. </p><p>“Like I said,” Mike paused for effect, leaning almost his entire body weight on his friend. “We <em> got </em> this.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Get Away From Where We Came From</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bellamy starts his Project Jamboree conditioning,<br/>Clarke hears about the legendary "East River" from Finn,<br/>Raven gets news on Finn's whereabouts,<br/>Jasper and Monty go on a medical supply run,<br/>Octavia has a run in with a couple of skip tracers and meets Miller and Mike,<br/>And Murphy makes a friend.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bellamy was forced to admit that he liked his new room a hell of a lot better than the previous one. This time it was a dorm, and he was sharing it with four other boys and there was a girls room across the hall. The door stayed locked at all times, and other than meals there had been complete radio silence from Dr Tsing since she had told him to “get settled in”, but one of the boys— Glen Dickson, he had said his name was— had been taken out of the room four times already. Each time he had come back with wet hair and blank eyes, and each time he had refused to talk about what had happened. </p><p><em> They were all reds, </em> Bellamy thought. <em> Surely they could find a way to get out of here? </em></p><p>He was sorely mistaken. Not the fact that they were all reds— that much was true— but by the fact that they could escape Mount Weather. No one seemed to escape Mount Weather. <em>Ever. </em>One of the other boys, Mason, had told him that a younger girl tried. Charlotte, her name was. She tried to escape and they shot her in the back of the head, killing her instantly. </p><p>To put it plainly, the people at Mount Weather don’t fuck around. </p><p>They lulled them into a false sense of security at first, at least that’s what a girl called Keenan told him over breakfast. Since Bellamy had shown up slightly late, he hadn’t been afforded exactly the same treatment but he’d been warned of the two-day settling in period. The two-day settling in period that was about to be over. </p><p>“Just…” Keenan faltered. “If you want to make it out alive, do what they say the first time. Fight them, and it only hurts more. I spent the first three times fighting before I caved in the fourth, and they’ve gone a little bit easier on me since, I’ve even been given a day off.”</p><p>“A day off from <em> what</em>?” Bellamy asked curiously, keeping his voice low. </p><p>“The conditioning,” she explained. “It’s hell.”</p><p>“What does it involve?” </p><p>She opened her mouth to answer but no sound came out, so Keenan shut it again and continued to eat her food. “I’d tell you if I could, but that would make it more painful for the both of us.” </p><p>The walls of the dorms were thick enough that he couldn’t hear their screams. But that didn’t mean he didn’t know they were screaming. Bellamy lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and occasionally letting his eyes stray to the cameras in the corners of the room, or towards the speaker at the door that was yet to be used. </p><p>Peter Colton was one of the other boys in Bellamy’s room. He had the bed next to his, and he seemed unable to sleep as well. Bellamy glanced over to him, “Surely we could just burn the place down, if we wanted to,” he stated quietly.</p><p>“Mate, you ain’t heard the white noise yet, and you ain’t been for your first round of conditioning. The camps got nothin’ on this place, not by a long shot. Take Dax, the kid came in here fiery and ready for action, optimistic that he had a shot to break out of this place. Now?” Peter’s hand made a vague gesture in the direction of Dax’s bunk on the other side of the room. “Blank slate. Brain dead. <em> Gone. </em> You’ve been here two days. Get some sleep mate, it’s the last good night you’ll ever have.” </p><p>Bellamy frowned, “You seem sane. How are you still sane?” </p><p>“You take something and you hold onto it. Everything they do to you, you focus on that one thing and you don’t let them take it from you. But you can’t let them see it, because they <em> will </em> see it,” Peter sighed. “For me it was my best mate Diggs. He died. IAAN. I know he’d want me to like… <em> live </em> and all that shit. So I do it for him.” </p><p>“Octavia,” his sister’s name left his lips in a quiet sigh. “My sister.” </p><p>“Don’t let them ruin her for you,” Peter warned him. “Don’t. They take what you love and they twist it. Don’t let them.”</p><p>The first time Bellamy faced conditioning, he fought them. He ignored Keenan and Peter’s advice and he fought them. He tried his hardest to focus on Octavia when they water-boarded him for showing the slightest bit of emotion. He focused on her when they asked him questions about himself, not answering, not giving anything away. </p><p>So they strapped him to the chair, turned the sprinklers on and left. </p><p>Bellamy couldn’t tell if it had been minutes, hours, or days by the time they turned them off. Wet hair clung to his face and covered his eyes and he was unable to move it because his hands were <em> still </em> tied to the goddamn chair. His hand let out an involuntary twitch and he grabbed his wrist with his other hand to hold it still, thankful that he could do that even through the restraints. </p><p>“What do you want from me?” He spat, looking in the direction of the wall-mounted camera.</p><p>Dr Tsing opened the door, bringing with her a foldout chair which she sat in front of him, watching quietly as the rest of the water drained into the grate in the floor. “We just want you, Bellamy. Why is that so hard to believe?”</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>“Stay still,” Clarke snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment and forgetting that her hands were covered in the boy’s blood. The boy— whose name she now knew was <em> Finn</em>— lay flat on the backseat (which was now also soaked in blood) of the car they had managed to hide in an abandoned parking lot. He may have been a reckless idiot, if his actions since meeting her had been anything to go by, but at least he was a reckless idiot with a first aid kit in his trunk. </p><p>Jasper had disappeared ten minutes ago to find a place to go to the bathroom, and Monty had gone with him because a) safety in numbers, and b) Clarke needed peace and quiet to stitch up Finn’s side and stop it from leaking any more blood. </p><p>Thank god her mother had let her sit in and assist her with a couple of surgeries— whether that was good parenting or not is neither here nor there— or she wouldn’t have known what to do in this situation. Luckily, Clarke had experience (qualified or not, considering she is a teenager) with bullet wounds and how to take care of them. <em> Unluckily, </em> was the fact that they needed medicine. Specifically for pain relief and to prevent infections, and that was the precise thing that they did not have. </p><p>“East River,” Finn whispered. </p><p>Clarke frowned, “What do you mean?”</p><p>“That’s where I’m going,” he explained. “It’s a place where kids can live together without having to worry about PSFs or tracers. That’s where I’m going. You should come.” </p><p>She considered it for a moment, “Sounds like a fantasy.”</p><p>“Fantasy is based on reality,” he winked, laying his hand on hers. “Thanks, Princess. For saving my life,” Finn smiled at her, losing consciousness again and relaxing on the backseat. </p><p>Clarke stretched her arms and realised how uncomfortable a position she had been working in, and managed to ease her way out of the door by Finn’s feet without waking him up. The stitches would hold, hopefully. The bullet hadn’t hit anything vital and she had managed to remove it without a hitch. Unfortunately, without medication the wound was liable to get infected, she needed something to bring his fever down (a side-effect of the amount of blood loss) and they needed something to do a transfusion because there’s more blood than Clarke would like to admit covering her hands and his car. They also needed more medical supplies in general.</p><p>Another incident like this one and they might not be so lucky. </p><p>She sighed, leaning against the car and taking a deep breath. She’d just performed surgery on a kid she’s known for an hour, to remove a bullet from a wound he sustained while driving a car and escaping people trying to kill all four of them. </p><p>Couldn’t have predicted this in the “write a letter to your future self” assignment at the beginning of her freshman year of high school, that’s for sure. </p><p>“Clarke?” Monty asked cautiously, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”</p><p>“This is so messed up,” she sighed. “This shouldn’t be happening. None of this should be happening.” </p><p>“I know,” he smiled sympathetically. “But Finn’s gonna make it. Is there anything Jasper and I can do to help?” </p><p>Clarke thought it over for a moment before replying. “Either of you a compatible blood donor?” </p><p>“Jasper’s type O, he can do it,” he replied matter-of-factly. </p><p>She blinked, “Shit, you’re serious?” </p><p>Jasper appeared, shrugging. “Monty’s known me almost my entire life. He’s like my brother, why are you surprised he knows my blood type?” </p><p>“I’m not surprised he’d know you’re blood type, that seems about right. I’m surprised you’d be willing to give a pint of your blood to a guy you barely know.”</p><p>He pulled a face, “Technically Finn did the same. Except instead of donating it <em> directly, </em> it’s sort of all over his back seat. But he saved our asses, so yeah. I guess I can donate some blood. How hard can it be?” </p><p>Clarke frowned, “We don’t actually have the equipment… we need to do a supply run. Think you can handle that?” </p><p>“Ye of little faith,” Monty grinned. “You focus on writing us a list, and <em> we’ll </em> focus on getting us another car to carry out the mission.” </p><p>Jasper’s eyes widened, “Oh my god we’re like the X-men!” </p><p>“None of the X-Men had heightened intelligence,” Monty reminded him. “We’re more like Tony Stark.”</p><p>“<em>Wicked,</em>” Jasper grinned. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Clarke. Jasper and Monty are on the case.”</p><p>Less than ten minutes later, Monty pulled up next to her in a beaten-up tan SUV with the world’s biggest shit-eating grin on his face, an expression that could only be matched by Jasper in the passenger seat next to him. “The list?” he prompted, rolling down the window and holding out his hand. </p><p>“You’re literally a godsend. Although the fact that you two have many of these highly illegal skills is worrying, so we’re gonna talk about that later,” Clarke narrowed her eyes at him as she handed him the piece of paper. “Be careful,” she warned. </p><p>“Relax,” Jasper told her as he turned up the radio, preparing to sing along. “We’ll be back before you know it.” </p><p>“Be careful,” she repeated herself just in case. “But Monty? Drive fast.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>“Reyes, got a second?” Wick jogged to keep up with her and she raised an eyebrow at him in turn, waiting for an explanation. He quickly caught on and followed the question with, “Some of the greens had this idea of making these phone-like things, but they work completely closed off and you can only send messages and make calls to each individual device on an encrypted server. Think you can help?”</p><p>Raven nodded, “I heard about those. But why do you think <em> I </em> can help?” </p><p>“I know about that brilliant mind of yours, Reyes,” he shot her a knowing look which quickly dissolved into an excited grin. “You might as well be a green. Anyway, they have the plans drawn out but they’re unsure of some of the basis of it. So I’ll say again: think you can help them out?”</p><p>“Yeah, I can lend ‘em a hand,” she rolled her eyes. “Anything else?” </p><p>He paused, “Yeah. I couldn’t help but notice that you check the skip tracer server occasionally… for that kid, Finn Collins? I wanted to—” </p><p>She whirled around. “You <em> what? </em> Have you been keeping <em> tabs </em> on me? That is none of your goddamn business, Wick.” </p><p>Wick raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, I know how far you’re coming along in your hand-to-hand, don’t kill me. All I was gonna say is that I set up an algorithm to notify my laptop whenever a new update arrives and one came in half an hour ago, I’ve been looking for you.” </p><p>Raven finally notices the laptop secured under his arm and pulls him into the nearest available room. “You should've led with that. Show me.” </p><p>He wastes no time in pulling up the skip tracer network and finding Finn’s profile. He had been unlisted for a while, having never been in a camp, but Raven knew him well enough to know that after he disappeared he’d find trouble, so they’d managed to get his details and an old school photo of him for his profile. </p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>FINN COLLINS, BLUE, SPOTTED NEAR NORTH CAROLINA/VIRGINIA BORDER. </p>
  <p>BLUE SUV, PARTIAL REG --312-.</p>
  <p>ACCOMPANIED BY THREE OTHER PSI, TWO MALES AND ONE FEMALE— SUSPECTED TO BE CLARKE GRIFFIN.</p>
</blockquote><p>She let out a breath, her hand unconsciously finding Wick’s as she sighed in relief and a few tears slipped out of her eyes. “Still alive,” she whispered. “He’s still alive.” </p><p>“So I did some digging,” Wick started cautiously. “And the girl he might be with— Clarke Griffin— she’s a blue too, and was last seen with two other psi boys, both presumed greens. She’s also the <em> daughter </em> of Abigail Griffin, known Leda Corp scientist. From what I’ve found out, Dr Griffin took her daughter to the research centre in Tennessee instead of sending her to a camp, but Clarke broke out along with another girl, Sasha. Unfortunately, Sasha died during their escape. According to tracer reports, she then met up with the two greens somewhere near the North/South Carolina border, which means she’s been following a similar path to your friend Finn—” </p><p>“Boyfriend,” Raven clarified. “Finn’s my boyfriend.” </p><p>“Sorry, your <em> boyfriend </em> Finn,” Wick corrected himself. “And Clarke seems pretty resourceful, since she managed to disappear from the research centre without a trace since her friend died, which means that Finn is in good hands. Safety in numbers, right? There’s four of them now.”</p><p>She nodded, “Okay. You’re right.”</p><p>“The only downside is the bounty on Griffin,” he revealed, clicking the link to Clarke’s page. </p><p>“Fuck,” Raven blinked, looking at Clarke’s page. “That’s a lot of zeroes.” </p><p>Wick whistled, “Something tells me her mother <em> really </em> wants her back.”</p><p>Raven committed Clarke’s face to memory before turning back to Wick again. “Get me everything you can find on Abigail Griffin. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure this bitch doesn’t find those kids.” </p><p>“Roger that, Reyes. Looks like we got a project on our hands.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Jasper grinned, slamming his hand on the dashboard in triumph as he sing-songed, “Jackpot!”</p><p>Monty let out a whistle. The pharmacy didn’t look like it had seen the light of day since… well, a long time. “Bingo,” he whispered, Clarke’s list clutched in his hand. </p><p>“How’d you get so good at driving?” Jasper eyed him cautiously. “It was that summer when I went to stay with my aunt, wasn’t it?” </p><p>“How’d you get so good at hotwiring cars?” Monty countered, “It was that summer when you went to stay with your aunt, wasn’t it?” </p><p>They both shook their heads, laughing, matching grins plastered on their faces. If they wanted to survive, they had to rely on Clarke’s medical skills, which meant they had to use <em> their </em> skills to get the supplies necessary for her to use those medical skills. The door was chained shut but the contents were still inside. Monty tilted his head to look at the lock on the door. Standard issue, if they could find the right materials he could pick it.</p><p>Jasper glanced at the pharmacy. “It would be really handy if one of us was a blue right about now.”</p><p>“Too bad,” Monty shrugged. “Let’s try the back.” </p><p>The two boys circled around to the back of the building and found an opening. Not a door, but a small window that seemed to lead to the staff bathroom way back when the shop was actually in business. Monty prayed that the medicine inside wouldn’t be out of date, but at least the equipment wouldn’t face the same issue. </p><p>“Rock paper scissors?” Jasper suggested, eyeing the small hole. </p><p>“Deal,” Monty nodded. </p><p>Three rounds, Jasper won overall and he gave a boost up to his best friend to shimmy himself through the window and drop down onto the other side. There was a small splash and when Monty opened the back door to let Jasper inside, the bottom of his left pant-leg was considerably <em> damper </em> than it had been when they arrived. Jasper opened his mouth to comment but the sharp look he received in response was enough to tell him that this was not a subject Monty was willing to discuss. </p><p>“What’s on the list?” Jasper changed the subject, however unspoken it had been. </p><p>Monty tore it in half and handed Jasper the top half while he scoured the shelves for the equipment on the bottom half. Some of the stuff was mostly used in hospitals, so they had to improvise a little. Other than that, the rest of it was uneventful and they managed to get all of the stuff they needed, including a few blankets from the storage room and a couple of extra first aid kits. </p><p>It was dark outside by the time they got all of the stuff into the backseat of the new car, and when they arrived at Finn’s SUV, Clarke could barely keep her eyes open from watching over Finn. They swapped everything over into the new car, as the other one had undoubtedly been logged by the tracers, before finally carrying Finn into the backseat of the other car and sitting Jasper next to him, pulling the car out of sight so that Clarke could set up everything necessary for the transfusion before she finally drifted off to sleep in the front seat, with Jasper’s blood helping Finn and Monty left on watch. </p><p>After a while, Clarke woke up again and joined Monty, sitting on the roof of the SUV and looking out towards the horizon. “Finn said something,” she sighed. </p><p>“What?” he asked curiously. </p><p>“There’s a place, it’s called East River. Apparently it’s a camp but not the bad kind, like an away camp thing, run by kids for kids. It’s really hard to find, but that’s where Finn wants to go. I think we should go with him,” Clarke explained. </p><p>Monty mulled it over, “Okay, I’m in. How do we get there?” </p><p>“That’s the thing…” she hesitated. “I’m not sure, and I don’t think Finn is either.” </p><p>“We’ll find it,” he promised. “Track down the camp, get there in one piece and then Bob’s your uncle.” </p><p>Clarke laughed, “I never understood that saying.”</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>The door creaked open and Octavia’s head whipped around. She’d been careful, she’d been <em> so </em> careful. She hadn’t taken any unnecessary risks and she’d been sticking to alleyways and only moving through the night in an attempt to not attract any attention. It had to be a coincidence that someone else was here. </p><p>She peeked around the door, and for a fleeting moment she hoped it was Bellamy, but then Octavia realised that would be impossible. He wouldn’t know she was here, and he had been taken by the bad people who wanted her. There’s a chance he’d been sent to one of the “rehabilitation camps” and the thought left a sour taste in her mouth. When she had backup, when she had an idea of where he was, she would come for her brother— no doubt about it— and she would rescue him. </p><p>“Well hello little lady,” the man caught her off guard. Octavia had been so focused on the door she hadn’t realised that the intruder wasn’t alone. </p><p>Octavia had picked this gas station because it was deserted, and now she felt like an idiot for overstaying her welcome. Anyone could show up at anytime, and by the looks of it, they just had. </p><p>The man wore a tan jumpsuit with a nametag on it, <em> McCreary. </em> “It’s pretty late to be here on your own. How about you get in my truck and we get you to someone who can help you?” </p><p>She was surprised by her own courage as she stood up to face him, “If anyone could help me, it definitely wouldn’t be <em> you.</em>” </p><p>“Feisty,” he laughed, glancing at his friend. “This one bites. Now, what’s your name?” </p><p>Octavia’s breaths quickened as she began to panic, trapped between the two men with no way out. She felt it again, like she had that day in the kitchen. The <em> pull. </em> She wasn’t sure how to describe it, or what it meant exactly, but she knew that as soon as she felt the pull that things weren’t going to end in a way that made anyone happy. </p><p>She focused on the pull, trying to use it to her advantage, and the lights above her flickered as the electricity transferred from them to her. There was heat in her fingertips and lightning in her mind and the current inside of her latched onto the nearest thing it could, the speaker on McCreary’s maintenance belt. The shock sent his eyes rolling back into his head and he crumpled to the floor. </p><p><em> Run. </em> </p><p>Octavia pulled the last of the energy from the lights and the station went dark, leaving the other man groping around blindly as she ran for the exit, tears in her eyes. <em> Run. </em> She pushed through the trees and into the park, running straight across the clearing and through the field on the other side. <em> Run. </em> </p><p>Then she realised how screwed she really was. </p><p>“You idiot,” she scolded herself. “You absolute <em> idiot.</em>” </p><p>She had left her bag in the shop.</p><p>Which meant, despite her better judgement, she had to go back. She took them once, right? She’d be able to do it again, right? Screw survival instinct, and the fact that every fibre of her being was telling her this was a terrible idea, she had to get that bag. </p><p>It was the last thing she had that reminded her of home. </p><p>
  <em> Of Bellamy. </em>
</p><p>Octavia paused for a breath before jogging back across the park, carefully making her way back through the trees and watching the gas station from the other side of the road. The lights were still out but the truck was gone from outside which could mean that they had left. Or hidden it, but Octavia didn’t want to think about that. </p><p>She took a deep breath, thinking of what her mother used to say. <em> Fear is a demon. Close your eyes and tell yourself you are not afraid. </em></p><p>“I am not afraid,” she whispered, before saying it again and slightly louder. “I am <em> not </em> afraid.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Murphy smiled to himself for the first time since the Caledonia escape. He was alone, and he was free. Not only was he free, but he was pretty well cared for since he’d found a large shopping mall and had it all to himself. </p><p>So he did what any sane person would do. </p><p>He blasted music on maximum volume and sang along.</p><p>“This Is The Sea” by The Waterboys was playing as loud as possible on the small stereo that he had found on the second floor, and he put it in a shopping cart and pushed it around the empty building. He laughed to himself, feeling better than he had in a long time. </p><p>That is, until midway through the third verse, when a figure dropped down on top of him and raised a knife to his throat. Murphy let go of the shopping cart and it fell down the escalator with a crash, breaking the stereo and making the quiet seem even more obvious. </p><p>“Who are you?” the figure snapped, “Also, move and you die.” </p><p>“By the height, I’m guessing you’re a kid,” he replied slowly. “A psi, probably. If you didn’t notice me turning on the lights, then maybe I should announce that I could fry you, if I wanted to.” </p><p>The hands holding him in place didn’t move, “Then why haven’t you?”</p><p>“Haven’t wanted to,” Murphy shrugged. “If you were a red, you’d be warm, naturally. Since you’re pretty cold I’d say you’re not. If you were orange, then you wouldn’t need to ask who I was, because you’d be inside my head. If you were a blue, you could be restraining me from a distance, which means you’re either a yellow like me or you’re a green.” </p><p>The kid pushed him forwards onto his knees and took a step back so that he could turn around and see them. It was a girl, probably the same age. “This place is mine,” she said slowly. </p><p>“Well, it’s big enough for two. We don’t have to be roommates,” he shrugged, trying to ignore the fact that she was actually quite pretty— you know, for someone who had a knife to his throat a few seconds ago. “John Murphy, and you are?”</p><p>“Emori,” she answered bluntly. “You stick to your side, and I’ll stick to mine.” </p><p>Murphy laughed, “And which side is mine?”</p><p>“Whichever side doesn’t have the food store,” Emori smiled sweetly before turning on her heel and walking away, not even turning around or pausing to shout, “There are four clothes stores with shit your size on your side of the line. Better get out of that camp gear.”</p><p>He’d almost forgotten he’d been wearing it. Although to be fair, his legs were almost completely numb from the snow and it was a miracle he was still upright. <em> You stick to your side, and I’ll stick to mine, </em> he thought. <em> Okay, I’m willing to play hardball. </em>This might be fun. </p><p>Murphy found a store directory and a stationary shop and marked out the areas that were his on one map, and on an identical one marked the areas belonging to Emori. He folded the one marking his areas on into a paper aeroplane and walked as close to the dividing line as possible (one of the storefronts on the second level) and threw it across into her side of the store before whistling as he sidled back deeper into his own side. </p><p>An hour later, a football narrowly missed his head from the sports store on Emori’s side. It had a clear message written on one of the white hexagons in a black marker pen. “Stop throwing shit on my side!”</p><p>“Hypocrite!” he shouted back, grinning. <em> Game on. </em></p><p>In one of the toy stores, Murphy found a small radio-controlled car. He strapped a teddy bear from the gift store into it and tied a balloon to the bear’s arm. On the balloon, he wrote: “Big place, lots to explore. Hope I didn’t accidentally end up on your side!” </p><p>It wasn’t even twenty minutes before he heard the unmistakable sound of a balloon popping, followed by the buzzing of a drone as it deposited the now-headless bear at his feet with a light thud. There was a sticky note attached to the drone and Murphy managed to get to it without slicing his fingers off. It read: “I mean it, John.” With “Just so you know, I’m keeping the car” underneath. </p><p>He grinned, this was starting to get interesting. “I know you can see me,” he winked at the drone’s camera. “If you want the car, that’s fine, but you do know the controller’s on my side, right? Willing to come and get it?” </p><p>The printer in the gift shop next to him turned on and a piece of paper began to come out, blank except for the words: “Nice try.”</p><p>Murphy sighed, “Alright, alright. It’s not over yet.” </p><p>The drone sped away and he couldn’t wipe the grin from his face. </p><p>When Murphy was little, his dad taught him how to cook. He knew how to make simple things, but given a recipe, he could do the harder things too. So when he found the breakfast place <em> right </em> on the halfway marker on the third floor, he decided that was how this was going to end. </p><p>With breakfast.</p><p>He grabbed a menu and circled the waffle options after checking that all the ingredients were still there, writing next to it, “If I don’t burn the kitchen down, breakfast? 10AM, here. Truce?” and then adding underneath, “This does not in any way mean you’ve won, alright?” before signing his name. </p><p>Honestly? He was lucky that Emori hadn’t already raided the place for food. Or at least if she had, she’d left all the dry ingredients, eggs, and milk. “Shit,” he cursed. “If she’s allergic to dairy then I’m so screwed.” </p><p>“I’m not,” Emori’s voice startled him and he looked up, expecting to see her standing in the doorway but instead the drone is resting on the counter, a small kids walkie-talkie attached to one of the legs. “Allergic to dairy, I mean.” </p><p>Murphy’s face split into a grin and he picked up the walkie. “Is that a yes?” </p><p>“I’m not doing this because I’m giving in to you, I’m doing it because my stomach will never forgive me if I don’t,” she pointed out. </p><p>He laughed, “Good enough for me.” </p><p>The next morning he was already preparing the ingredients at 8:30 for a test run. You know, so he didn’t burn the kitchen down. At least not in front of Emori anyway. His first waffle didn’t go <em> quite </em> as planned, and a phrase about having to break eggs to make an omelette came to mind, causing Murphy to frantically check to make sure there <em> were </em> enough eggs left for another disaster like that one. Luckily there were. </p><p>Murphy had just finished clearing up the first trial when Emori arrived early. <em> Early. </em>It took him a moment to realise that it was 9AM, he was standing there in an apron that said “World’s Best Mom”, and Emori was raising an eyebrow at him from the table closest to the kitchen. </p><p>“World’s best mom, huh?” she smiled, “Quite a title.” </p><p>“With great power comes great responsibility,” he replied with a grin. When Murphy noticed the blank look on her face he reeled back in horror, “How have you never seen Spiderman? You know what? Nevermind, we’re rectifying that asap, whether it’s on my side of the building or yours, I am tracking down that movie and you’re watching it.” </p><p>Emori laughed, “Fine, John. Whatever floats your boat.” </p><p>He disappeared back into the kitchen to whip up some waffles for each of them, bringing them out on two plates and setting them down on the table. “So is this a truce, or what?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes. “I guess it’s a truce. Now pass me the damn chocolate sauce.”</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Mike grinned and Miller rolled his eyes at him. “What?” he asked Mike. “Why are you looking at me like that?” </p><p>“Because we’re hitchhiking. And it’s <em> working</em>,” he replied.</p><p>Miller sighed, “You’ve gone and jinxed it now.” </p><p>“Have <em> not</em>,” Mike said pointedly. </p><p>The boys were currently riding in the back of a truck going to Virginia. They’d almost made it, they were <em> so </em> close. Which was why it was such a shock when the truck pulled to a stop without warning. “Jinxed it,” Miller hissed, trying to hide the worry lacing his voice. </p><p>“Have <em> not.</em>” </p><p>“Well what do we have here?” Someone ripped the cover off from over them and grinned. He was wearing a tan jumpsuit with the name tag “McCreary” and by the look on his face, McCreary wasn’t one to play nice.</p><p>Miller and Mike nodded at each other, an unspoken message relayed between them as they both lashed out with their abilities at once, the combined force of the pair’s telekinesis sending McCreary up into the air and onto the tarmac with a sickening crunch. </p><p>What they hadn’t been planning on, was that McCreary had company. He pulled out his scanner before they could move and it beeped, revealing their identities. “Oh look! You two got out of Caledonia, didn’t you? That’s nice. Nathan Miller and Michael— oh, my name is Michael as well.” The man smiled, but it was a chilling smile that sent a shiver down Miller’s spine. “Michael Vinson,” he hauled Mike out of the truck, and secured his hands behind his back with a zip-tie, ignoring how he cried out in pain when his injured arm was wrenched behind him. </p><p>“Damn it, Nate!” Mike shouted. “Run!” </p><p>But Miller couldn’t leave him. He reached out a hand, hauling McCreary up and using telekinesis to tighten the hold around his throat. “Let my friend go,” he tried to reason with Vinson, “And I’ll do the same.” </p><p>Vinson laughed, “Go ahead, I never liked the man anyway. At least then I won’t have to split the payday with him when I hand you two in.” </p><p>So that plan didn’t work, he tried another tactic, climbing out of the truck slowly and as soon as the driver saw them in the mirror he started up the engine and drove off, leaving McCreary, Vinson, Mike and Miller stranded where they were standing. Miller hesitated before raising his hand again and aiming his abilities this time at Vinson, but the man was so large it only affected him slightly. The last thing Miller saw before McCreary’s gun hit him in the back of the head with Mike’s eyes widening in concern. </p><p>Miller woke up not long after, his hands behind his back in zip ties and a headache that felt like he’d been driven over with a car. He hadn’t, only slammed with a gun, but he likened the experience to that anyway. He looked over to Mike, but the other boy wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I told you to run,” he said quietly. </p><p>“I’m not leaving you,” Miller stated matter-of-factly. “We got out of Caledonia together, and we are going to get out of this together too.” </p><p>“If you’ve got a plan for getting out of here please enlighten me,” an unfamiliar voice announced herself in the darkness before the kid it belonged to shuffled into the shaft of light that lit up her end of the back of the truck. “Because believe me, I’d love to get out of here.” </p><p>“Nate Miller,” Miller announced. “And that’s Mike.” </p><p>“Octavia Blake,” the girl sighed. “I’m guessing my day’s going as well as yours?” </p><p>Mike shrugged, wincing. “You’d be right in that assumption. How’d you get in this mess?” </p><p>“Long story,” she replied. It wasn’t actually that long, but Miller had a feeling she just didn’t want to tell it. “You?”</p><p>“Hitchhiking,” Miller explained. </p><p>Mike sighed, “We were doing pretty well. Got here all the way from Ohio, wherever <em>here</em> is. We better not be going backwards.” </p><p>“They’ll be dropping us off at the nearest checkpoint, so if we want to get out of here you can be damned sure we’ll do it before then,” Miller decided. </p><p>Octavia glanced at the two boys, “Colours?” </p><p>“Blue,” they replied in unison. </p><p>“Yellow,” Octavia revealed. </p><p>Miller grinned, “That’s brilliant. You can short-circuit the van.”</p><p>She raised an eyebrow, “Either of you know how to get out of zip ties? Because that isn’t gonna happen while my hands are tied, and covered in these awful rubber gloves.” </p><p>“Then let’s get rid of the gloves,” he resolved. “Turn around, and Mike and I will try and tear them with our abilities.”</p><p>Octavia raised an eyebrow, almost as if she was amused at the futility of the plan. The younger girl, who seemed to give him the look that she knew <em> better</em>. Miller bit back a comment as she reluctantly turned around on her knees and held her hands out to face them. Unfortunately, since the whole “Leave me!”/”I’m not leaving you” incident, Mike and Miller were a little out of sync. So the plan didn’t exactly work the first four times. </p><p>“Ow! What the hell?” Octavia snapped, “Watch it!” </p><p>“Sorry,” Mike sighed, “We’ll get there.”</p><p>Just before they could try for a fifth time, the car slammed on its breaks and threw all three of them together. Miller was the first to recover, somehow managing to get himself upright again despite the fog clouding the edges of his vision. “That didn’t sound planned,” he whispered. </p><p>“That’s because it wasn’t,” the girl grinned as she unlocked the back of the van, having heard their entire conversation. “We’re getting you out of here.” She seemed to be a few years older than them. Not old enough to be drafted, but old enough to have missed the age group affected by IAAN. “The name’s Lexa. My buddies are Nyko and Lincoln, and you can meet the rest of the gang once we get to the cabin. We don’t have an <em> official </em> name yet, but let’s just say we’re a large, dysfunctional family, but we’re here to help.”</p><p>Lincoln climbed in the van and hoisted Octavia out by the arm, pulling out a knife to cut the zip ties around her wrists. “I’m Lincoln,” he smiled. </p><p>“Octavia,” she sighed in relief. They really were here to help. “That’s Miller and Mike. So, where’s this cabin Lexa was talking about?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Where We'll End Up, I Don't Know</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Octavia, Miller, and Mike arrive at Lincoln's cabin, and meet his family,<br/>Raven prepares for her first op as a junior league agent,<br/>Finn perks up enough to tell Clarke, Jasper, and Monty about East River,<br/>Bellamy has a tough round of conditioning,<br/>and Murphy and Emori get closer.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Octavia whistled when she saw the cabin. It was buried deep in the woods and it almost blended into its surroundings yet managed to stand out at the same time. She’d never been camping, never really ended up anywhere near a place like this but from the moment she walked inside, she felt a warmth that she hadn’t felt since leaving home. A kid a couple of years younger than her stoked the fire and Lexa warned him to be careful. </p><p>“We’ve got a load of kids here,” Lincoln explained. </p><p>She raised an eyebrow at him, “Aren’t you <em> also </em> kids.” </p><p>“Yeah,” he laughed, “But we’re the small group that managed to miss IAAN while still being too young to be drafted. Almost all of us, anyway…” he trailed off. “Lexa’s my cousin and Nyko’s my brother. Gustus is one of Nyko’s friends and we’ve basically adopted him. He’s a bit of an ass at first, but he’ll warm up to you eventually. Oh, and there’s also Luna, Lexa’s older sister.” </p><p>Miller and Mike still had barely said two words to each other, but that didn’t stop them from introducing themselves to the others. There were several other kids in the cabin; Aden, Denae, Adria and Costia. They all seemed pretty keen on meeting the newcomers. </p><p>“How long have you been here?” Mike asked, intrigued by the whole situation. </p><p>Adria shrugged, “Luna’s my neighbour. When she left home my parents sent me with her so I was one of the first to arrive. Lexa’s pretty dramatic, she faked her own death before coming.” </p><p>“She faked her own death?” Miller spluttered. </p><p>Costia laughed, sending a warm smile in Lexa’s direction before explaining, “Not a bad plan— it’s not like they’ll look for someone who they think is dead. She had help though.” A small flame appeared in the palm of her hand for a second before she closed her fist and extinguished it. </p><p>Nyko walked past, rolling his eyes and ruffling her hair. “How many times have we told you not to show off? You could burn the whole place down,” he said sternly, but he smiled while he did so it wasn’t really as much of a warning as it seemed. </p><p>Mike raised an eyebrow, “You’re a red?”</p><p>“No,” Costia deadpanned. “I’m a dragon.” </p><p>Miller grinned, “Sorry about him, he’s just never met a red before. We came from Caledonia— there were only yellows, greens and blues there.” </p><p>“It’s fine, I’m used to the wariness,” she shrugged. “Aden’s a blue and Denae’s a green. We had a yellow here not that long ago, but Derrick wanted to find the legendary East River, so he didn’t stay for long.” </p><p>“East River?” Mike asked, “What’s so legendary about a river?” </p><p>“Here we go again,” Costia sighed, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m gonna get some juice. Aden, do the honours?” </p><p>Aden nodded and explained, “Supposedly there’s this camp somewhere. It’s run by this kid— the Slip Kid— who’s apparently managed to slip camp custody like four times. He’s also apparently an orange. He runs this place and the government is steering clear of him, so it’s like a safe house kind of thing for psi but in the style of a summer camp?” </p><p>“Sounds like the place to be?” Mike whistled. </p><p>“It <em> sounds </em> like a hoax,” Costia replied, returning with a glass of orange juice. “I’m staying here, but if you guys want to go chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that’s fine by me.” </p><p>“Apparently the kid has a computer with access to all of the tracer networks and stuff, and kids can use it track down their siblings or contact their—” Aden was cut off as Octavia rushed over, abandoning all niceties and almost knocking the juice out of Costia’s hand in an effort to get there as quickly as possible. </p><p>“Did you just say <em> track down their siblings</em>?” she asked breathlessly. </p><p>Aden nodded, “Yes. But that’s only what I’ve heard.”</p><p>“Well, then I need to know how to get there,” Octavia decided. “Tell me everything you know.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Raven was on her way back from the gym when Sinclair bumped into her. “Reyes, so glad I caught you,” he paused for a moment to catch his breath. </p><p>She slung her towel over her shoulder and leant against the wall, wiping some of the sweaty hair that clung to her forehead. “What’s up?” </p><p>“You’re being promoted!” Sinclair grinned, “But there’s no time to throw a party because they want you, your brain, and your shooting skills on an Op as soon as possible. Details are in your room, briefing starts in an hour.” </p><p>Raven nodded, “Yes, Sir. See you then.” She sped up and got back to her room quicker than usual for someone who had just run a marathon on one of the treadmills downstairs. Raven picked up the folder that had been left on her bed and flicked to the first page. </p><p> </p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>AGENTS: REYES, SKY, SINCLAIR &amp; STEWART</p>
</blockquote><p> </p><p>She frowned. “Sky” was Harper, because all of the psi agents had codenames related to their colours, but Raven had no idea who “Stewart” was. Well, she was about to find out, so that was either a good or a bad thing. Undecided so far. </p><p>An hour later and she was heading to the briefing room, freshly showered and with a towel around her shoulders as her hair dried. Raven folded her arms and leant against the wall as Alban explained what was happening. “Sinclair is in charge, Stewart is the group leader, and the assignment is as follows. Your task is to distract the guards, plant the EMP and take down their communications to stop them from finding and blocking any more news websites until they can fix it again. This is only a temporary solution, but it is imperative that you do this. Do you understand?” </p><p>“Yes Sir,” they chorused.</p><p>Alban left the room and Sinclair led the strategy briefing. “Right, we’re going to split off into two teams. Stewart and Reyes, and McIntyre and I. This is the model of the EMP we’re using,” he slid a diagram across the table. “You won’t get to see the real thing until just beforehand. McIntyre, your focus is to take out the guards. You’re going to do this without taking any unnecessary risks, and under the cover of nightfall once I take out the street lights. Non-lethal force only, and then you will return to the van. Stewart and Reyes have the task of <em> planting </em> the EMP. Once I take out the security feeds you two can slip in undetected and if you come across anyone you are to use <em>non-lethal</em> force only, understood?” </p><p>“Got it,” Raven nodded, sparing a glance to the Stewart boy next to her. “Try to keep up,” she grinned. </p><p>He raised an eyebrow, “You do know I’m your senior agent, right?” </p><p>Sinclair rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face, “And you accuse the <em> engineers </em> of arrogance.” </p><p>“I’m growing as a person,” she shrugged. “When do we leave?”</p><p>“Tonight.”</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Monty changed lanes and peered in the rearview mirror to where Finn was half-lying across the backseat, pushing Clarke into the corner. Although she didn’t seem to mind, since Clarke had always had the habit of curling up naturally on long car journeys, and having her knees against her chest was more than comfortable enough for her. “So,” Monty started. “Tell us about East River.” </p><p>“But first,” Jasper interrupted. “Tell me why I’m not allowed to drive.” </p><p>Clarke laughed, “Because you can’t drive stick.”</p><p>He sighed, “Ok. Fair enough, but next time you stop I want you to teach me.” </p><p>Monty shrugged, “Fine by me. Now, back to East River?”</p><p>Finn moved to push himself further upright but after a stern glare from Clarke, he stayed where he was. “That’s the thing, I don’t know much. I only know that it’s run by the Slip Kid, who’s supposed to be an orange. He’s also supposed to have a computer that you can use to track down your family, which I’m banking on. I heard about it by accident, really.”</p><p>Jasper looked at Clarke and Monty, “Well I’m looking at my family right now, so that doesn’t mean much to me.” </p><p>“He also has some sort of dirt on the president, so everyone seems to stay away from the camp. Once you’re in, you’re safe,” Finn explained. </p><p>“Safe? As in—” Jasper started.</p><p>“Not getting hauled back to camp, or my <em> personal </em> favourite: not getting shot at by tracers.” </p><p>Monty raised an eyebrow, “And you have no idea how to get to this mystical safe haven?” </p><p>“Virginia. That’s all I know,” Finn sighed. </p><p>“How do you know the camp’s there?” Clarke asked. </p><p>He groaned, “Unless the blue tribe I ran into in Ohio’s messing with me, it’s somewhere in Virginia.” </p><p>Jasper narrowed his eyes at him, “You know Virginia’s a big place, right?” </p><p>“Just be glad it’s not Texas,” Monty pointed out. “I don’t know how to find it, but I know how to avoid tracers on the way. It’s not a good plan though.” </p><p>Finn tried to sit up again but decided against it at another firm glare from Clarke. “I’m willing to try anything at this point, what did you have in mind?”</p><p>“No, Monty we’ve been over this. We <em> can’t</em>,” Clarke warned. “It’s too dangerous.” </p><p>“We have two blues now, and Jasper and my combined expertise. You two do the dangerous part and we can sort the rest,” he pleaded.</p><p>Clarke shook her head, “We can’t. It’s too reckless!” </p><p>“Want to let me in on the secret?” Finn raised an eyebrow, completely out of the loop. </p><p>Jasper explained, “If we can lure in a tracer and knock them unconscious then we can take their tablet and their database login and send false reports to keep them off our trails while monitoring the reports nearby to see who’s in the area and who’s a threat.” </p><p>“Sounds like a good plan,” Finn shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen, I get shot?” </p><p>Clarke shot him a glare, “You can’t build up an immunity to gunshot wounds, Finn.” </p><p>“I’d rather get shot trying this and avoid skip tracers for the rest of my life then get shot at every other week until I die,” he pointed out. </p><p>“Valid answer,” Jasper shrugged. “Are we doing this or not?” </p><p>“Yes,” Monty replied firmly at the same time as Clarke warned, “<em>Absolutely </em> not.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Bellamy could barely keep his eyes open. His wet hair clung to his face and he couldn’t reach to push it away. At one point he tried to blow air from his mouth to get it to move but that just obscured his vision further until he begrudgingly gave up. Dr Tsing was due to come back soon, and he had a feeling it would only get worse from there. There was a small cut on his cheek and it stung as it healed, reopening every time they turned the water back on. As if Tsing had been reading his mind, she opened the door again and returned, pulling the chair back in with her and raising her feet above the wet floor as the water continued to drain out. </p><p>“Bellamy.” She spoke with a smile, but there was no warmth to her voice. “You’re strong, but there’s only so much of this you can take. If you let us help you it will be easier, I promise.” </p><p>“Help me?” He scoffed, “You’re trying to brainwash me.” </p><p>“We’re trying to take away your pain,” Dr Tsing replied calmly. </p><p>“You are <em> trying </em> to turn me into a mindless zombie. No thanks,” Bellamy snapped. </p><p>Dr Tsing sighed, pulling a radio out of her lab jacket, “Bring in Josie, I have a feeling he’ll be more receptive after a little chat with one of his own.” </p><p>The door swung open and a girl slightly younger than him wearing a dark red leather jacket walked in with her hands in her pockets, taking Dr Tsing’s seat with an unimpressed look on her face. “Not that I don’t enjoy this, because I do, but you know how much easier it would be for everyone if you just gave in, right?” </p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Charming. You’re Bellamy Blake, right? Well, my name is Josephine Ada Lightbourne. I’m an orange, and we’re going to have a little fun, you and I,” she smiled at him, tilting her head to the side to study him. “You wouldn’t be fighting so much if you didn’t have something to live for, so I wonder what that might be?” She scooted the chair a little closer, but not so close that they’d be touching. </p><p>Josephine paused to tie back two strands of hair from her face to give her a better view of him. She snickered, leaning in closer. “Some baggage you’ve got there, and deadbeat dad is only the beginning! I’m in for a real show today…” </p><p>Bellamy felt a strange sensation at the back of his head and he closed his eyes, trying to block it out. When he opened them again, he was home. <em> Home. </em> With his mom and Octavia. They were sitting around the kitchen table eating dinner, and that was the last time all three of them were together before— <em> NO. </em> He tried to push Josephine out. “Get. Out,” he grunted, trying to redirect her search to mindless memories, things that didn’t matter. </p><p>But she was too strong. </p><p>The girl tore through his mind and brought to the front all of the things he’d been trying to bury. The anger about his father leaving, the guilt about his mother’s death, the worry that Octavia wasn’t going to have an actual life. All of the bad things that he’d been hiding from, and she was pulling them forwards and forcing him to relive all of them. </p><p>“Get out of my head!” He shouted, “Get out! Get out!” </p><p>“Your sister seems nice,” Josephine noted. “Wonder where she is?” </p><p>The mention of Octavia brought the most recent memory to the forefront of his mind and he cursed. Bringing her up had been like a trigger and he was forced to relive watching his childhood home on fire and praying that she used it as the necessary distraction and got out the back. If only he had controlled his temper. If only he could control his abilities. If only they had left the moment things started to get bad. If only— </p><p>“Now that’s better than I could’ve imagined! You killed your sister! That’s gotta hurt,” Josephine pulled a face and Bellamy finally pulled on enough strength to force her out of his mind, causing her to look at him in surprise as she realised what had happened. </p><p>Bellamy realised his face felt wet and it wasn’t because of the water torture. Salty tears were falling down his cheeks, stinging his open cut even more. “Get out of my head!” He shouted one more time before giving in to the exhaustion and slumping back in the chair, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Get out of my head,” it wasn’t even a warning or a protest anymore, barely a plea as more tears fell from his closed eyes. “Out,” he whispered. </p><p>“Bellamy, Bellamy, Bellamy,” Josephine sang, “It’s gonna be okay. We’re going to help you. That’s what this place is for!” </p><p>“Out,” he whispered, even quieter than the last time. </p><p>She patted his leg through his wet jeans, “I’ll leave you to collect your thoughts.” </p><p>And with that, she left. </p><p>He leant forwards, emptying the contents of his stomach until there was nothing left. To get rid of the vomit, someone turned the sprinklers on from above and Bellamy tilted his head back and let the water wash over his face. He closed his eyes, letting his tears mix with the water from above. </p><p>They’d finally done it. </p><p>They’d finally broken him. </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Murphy reached his hand up to remove the blindfold— which was actually a tie they’d found in one of the classy clothes stores— but he was swatted away by Emori as she led him along the second floor. “Where are we going? I can’t see anything,” he complained. </p><p>She laughed, and he followed the sound of it even though she was already leading him. “That’s the point,” Emori reminded him. “You’re not <em> supposed </em> to be able to see anything.” </p><p>“You’re not about to kidnap me, are you?” Murphy asked warily. </p><p>“Don’t be an idiot,” she replied with what he wouldn’t doubt was an eye roll, “Where would I take you? We live in the same building.” </p><p>He grinned, “Then where are we going?” </p><p>“A surprise,” Emori tugged on his sleeve and pulled him further forward. “Don’t you trust me?” </p><p>“Are you asking that question as my friend or as the person who put a knife to my throat the first time we met?” </p><p>“Both,” she grinned. Well, he couldn’t see if she was grinning or not, but he could tell that Emori was at the very least smiling thanks to the tone in her voice. “We’re here,” she released the tie around his eyes and let it fall to the ground. “I had to turn the lights back off for it, but this is my favourite place,” she explained. </p><p>All the lights were off, but they were surrounded by small fairy lights and lava lamps and there were about a million extension cables so Murphy had to watch his footing but he was taken aback by the beauty of it all. “Did you do this?” he asked in wonder.</p><p>“Sort of. I found this store and realised the potential, and at the time there weren’t any working lights so I found all the batteries and used the battery-powered ones, but now there <em> is </em> power, I have all the others plugged in too,” Emori smiled. </p><p>There were six different jellyfish lamps, a small set of water-speakers that flashed different colours in time to the quiet music and more than necessary lava lamps spread out across the store. The shelves had been pushed to the side and a couple of different duvets and blankets from the homeware department had been spread out across the floor with multiple pillows to make it cosy. </p><p>Emori sat down on the makeshift den area and sighed, shuffling up so that she was lying comfortably on top of a few of the pillows. “Mi casa es su casa.” </p><p>Murphy hovered in the doorway, touching a plasma lamp and bringing his fingers away as the current inside followed them, before touching it again out of curiosity and dancing his fingers along the top. He shot her a cheeky grin, “I don’t know… this is quite far from the line… wouldn’t want to get in trouble.” </p><p>She rolled her eyes, “I suppose we can make allowances just this once… consider yourself given a day pass.” </p><p>“Oh, well if I have a <em> day </em> pass then it’s alright then,” he flopped down next to her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Nothing In The Rearview But Wasted Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Raven goes on her first op with the league and makes an unlikely friend,<br/>Clarke, Jasper, Monty, and Finn try something incredibly risky,<br/>Bellamy becomes a soldier,<br/>Murphy and Emori realise they have some unexpected visitors,<br/>Miller and Mike reconcile (+ more), and<br/>Octavia hears about East River.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Two teams of two. Stewart— whose first name Raven now knew to be Cole— and her, and then Harper and Sinclair. Harper used her abilities to knock the outside guards unconscious, allowing Sinclair to back the truck up as close as possible and work his magic to turn off the street lights outside and loop the camera feeds. </p><p>“Agents Reyes and Stewart in position. Over,” Cole spoke into his earpiece and received confirmation from Sinclair almost immediately after. </p><p>“Cameras are out of play, proceed up the back staircase, over,” his voice echoed back. </p><p>Raven grinned, “Let’s do this shit.” </p><p>“Language,” Sinclair warned through the comms and she rolled her eyes. </p><p>Cole suppressed a smile, “Right, EMP secure?” </p><p>She scoffed, “‘Course it is. In the bag, just like it was when you asked me two minutes ago.” </p><p>He rolled his eyes, “You’re inexperienced, I just don’t want to blow this.” </p><p>“Worry about yourself, Stewart,” Raven glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Which door?” </p><p>“Second on the right,” he replied as they exited the stairwell and ran straight into a member of the security team. “Fuck.” </p><p>Raven half expected to hear Sinclair mutter, “Language,” but all she heard on the other end of the comms was static. <em> They were so screwed. </em> The man grabbed Cole by the arm but he twisted out of his grasp and planted a firm kick to his chest, sending him stumbling backwards. He retaliated by grabbing Raven by the hair and pulling him closer to her, to the point that any move Cole made with the gun would actively injure her. </p><p>“Do it,” she mouthed. “Do it.” </p><p>“No,” he replied out loud, putting the gun on the floor. There was a flicker of something in his eyes as he took a step back and his hand clenched and unclenched into a fist at his side. “No guns.” </p><p>Raven realised what he was doing. He was giving her a chance to escape. She closed her eyes and relaxed instead of using her training to manoeuvre out of the man’s grasp. Raven took a deep breath and closed her free hand around the man’s bare wrist, sinking into his mind in waves. <em> Sleep. </em> She hadn’t practised or trained, so it was almost impossible to know if it would actually work, or if she could do something much worse accidentally. </p><p>It didn’t work, and the man pushed her up against the wall turning his back to Cole as his hand closed around her neck. Raven clawed at him, desperately trying to get some sort of purchase on his hands. <em> Sleep. </em> She tried again. <em> SLEEP. </em> </p><p>The smell of smoke began to fill the air, and Raven opened her eyes to see Cole Stewart’s hand on the man’s back as his jacket caught fire, causing him to let her go. She fell to the floor, gasping for breath and when Cole grabbed her hand to pull her up he was still warm to the touch. The man began to scream and Raven cautiously moved over to him and tried one last time. <em> Sleep. </em> He fell unconscious. </p><p>Cole grabbed his gun with one hand and Raven’s arm in the other, and she barely had time to process what had just happened as he hauled her into the hallway and along the corridor, practically throwing her into the room they needed before locking the door behind them as the fire alarm sounded and the sprinklers turned on in every room but the server room, which they were currently in. </p><p>“Fuck,” Raven gasped, rubbing her throat with the memory of what had just happened all too fresh. “Thank you.” </p><p>“You’re not scared?” Cole whispered as he pulled the EMP out of the bag and set it down on the floor for her to activate. </p><p>“Why would I be? We’re the same,” she sent him a reassuring smile. “I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine?” </p><p>He nodded, “You’ve got yourself a deal. Now work your magic.” </p><p>She sat on the ground and activated it, but nothing happened. “Damn, one of the wires must be loose inside. We don’t have time to open the whole thing up and figure out which one…” </p><p>“What’s the new plan then, I know you’ve got one,” Cole asked, peering through the door periodically to make sure no one else was coming. “The only other thing I can think of is to bring the whole building down, and it’s already survived multiple earthquakes. Raven grinned and he narrowed his eyes at her. “What?” </p><p>“It won’t survive me,” she smirked. </p><p>Cole rolled his eyes, “How much time do you need?” </p><p>“Not much,” she paused. “Enough to act on my Plan B.” Raven pulled a small flask out of her back and opened it, and the strong scent filled the room. </p><p>Cole wrinkled his nose, “Christ, what is that?”</p><p>“Gasoline,” she shrugged. “I always have a Plan B.”</p><p>“I’m starting to get why Sinclair wanted you on the team now,” he laughed. "Although I am a little concerned that you brought that with you." </p><p>“Gun,” Raven held out her hand as she poured the liquid into another container. Cole handed it over and she emptied out all the bullets but two, opening them individually and pouring the gunpowder inside into the container around the gasoline. “How good a shot are you?” </p><p>“Pretty damn good,” Cole replied. </p><p>“Good. This should be big enough to take out the server room, which will do the most damage. Don’t they have a kitchen here as well?” She finished up and handed Cole back the gun, putting the two bullets back inside. “I want to turn up the heat a little.” </p><p>Cole smirked, “I like the way you think, Reyes.” </p><p>She picked up the makeshift bomb and put it on the windowsill, wedging it between the bottom of the window and the ledge itself. “Think you can make <em> that </em> shot? From the ground?” </p><p>“I think I have to?”</p><p>“That’s the spirit.” She moved away from the windowsill and thought better of it, tearing off the bottom of her shirt and tying it to the bottom of the window and dangling it out. “A little help. Finding the window without it might be time-consuming.” </p><p>“Good idea,” he nodded, checking the corridor before giving her the all-clear. “Let’s find that kitchen.” They took the stairs two at a time until they got to the third floor. The kitchen was on the left and although it was small it had a gas oven and Raven grinned as she turned the gas on full and they ran down the back staircase and out onto the street. The streetlights were still out in an area of it and the League van was labelled maintenance so that it wouldn’t be seen, so they used the cover of darkness and ran across the street to get into position. Cole paused, “The moment I pull this trigger they know exactly where we are.” </p><p>“Then run fast,” Raven replied. “We’re doing this.” </p><p>He grinned, raising the gun. The first shot missed by a fraction and the bullet buried itself in the wall next to the makeshift bomb. Cole raised his gun again, aware of the time pressure as he pulled the trigger. </p><p>It clicked. </p><p>“Fuck, it’s a dud,” he realised. </p><p>“Then do what you did earlier,” Raven told him calmly. “Focus on the bomb, channel it, and let’s blow this place sky high.” </p><p>Cole nodded, taking a deep breath and focusing on the bomb and the small flag made from Raven’s shirt that hung from the window ledge. <em> Come on, </em> he pleaded. <em> You can do this. </em> His hand tightened into a fist by his side and there was a loud bang as glass rained down on the sidewalk as the entire server room went up in flames. Raven let out a cheer and grinned at Cole. He let out a relieved and breathless laugh as she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the van. “Let’s get out of here before it catches the—” he was cut off as the flames were magnified tenfold by the gas on the third floor and every window shattered simultaneously, the building succumbing to the flames. </p><p>They got back into the van out of breath from running and Harper looked at them impressed as Sinclair accelerated and the van shot away from the burning building in time for the authorities to get there. </p><p>Raven grinned, “I’d say my first op was a success, wouldn’t you?” </p><p>Cole whistled, “A raven isn’t called an omen of death for nothing.”</p><p>“Actually that’s a pretty common misconception—” she began, but he cut her off again. </p><p>“Just take the win, Reyes. You did good.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Monty cleared his throat, “So is everyone clear on the plan?” He received a nod from each of them in response, but it did nothing to calm his nerves. It was a plan, it was a <em> solid </em> plan, but that didn’t mean it would actually work. </p><p>They had managed to track down a tracer— Jasper and Monty had run into him once or twice before, before they met up with Clarke— called Carl Emerson. He was a bit of a dick, and they were glad to use him. They had followed him in the car until he stopped for gas, where they had realised he actually had a kid strapped in the back of his car. </p><p>“I’ll distract him, then Finn and I will take him out,” Clarke confirmed. “But you better not exert yourself. You’ve already bled out on the back of one car, and I’d really appreciate it if that didn’t happen again.”</p><p>Jasper raised a hand, “I’ll give more blood if I have to, but I’d rather not have to— if it’s alright with you.” </p><p>Finn laughed, leaning against the car. “Okay, I get it. I’ll be careful.” He left to get into position a few alleys over and Clarke walked out into the heat of the morning and took a deep breath, purposefully knocking over a trash can to alert Emerson of her presence before seeing him, feigning shock, and breaking into a run. </p><p>He chased after her and down into the alley where Finn was waiting. He closed off the exit and forced Emerson between the two blues while Monty and Jasper broke into the car and found not only the tablet but began to untie the kid in the backseat. </p><p>“We’re here to help,” Monty whispered, ignoring the fact that she must be dangerous as he pulled the muzzle from around the small girl’s face. “I’m Monty, and that’s Jasper. We’re getting you out of here,” he reassured her as Jasper lifted the girl out of the back and Monty shut the door behind them before opening the front one and looking for the tablet. “Have you seen his tablet? About this big, probably had your face on it at some point?” </p><p>The girl nodded before whispering in a quiet voice, “Took it with him.” </p><p>“Okay, that’s fine. Our friends are on it,” Jasper assured her, leading her quickly towards their car and sitting her on the back seat as he began to untie the second lot of restraints around her hands. </p><p>Clarke took a deep breath, nodding to Finn before they both raised their hands and used their combined telekinesis to throw Emerson at the wall and knock him out cold. “Get the tablet,” she told Finn, “I’ll keep him down.” Clarke held an invisible barrier over him, pushing him against the ground as Finn rifled through his pockets to see if the tablet was anywhere on him. He got lucky, pulling it out and tossing it to Clarke with a relieved grin on his face as Emerson’s eyes flickered open. </p><p>He took Clarke’s moment of relief as hesitation and pulled his gun on Finn, holding it against the side of his head. “Give me back the tablet or I’ll shoot,” he warned. </p><p>“A dead kid doesn’t get as much money as a live one,” Finn reminded him, but Emerson took no notice of him. </p><p>“Three seconds. Two. One—” he cocked the gun. “Any last words?” </p><p>“Just one,” a shaky voice announced behind him. “Sleep.”</p><p>Emerson dropped the gun and Finn as he fell unconscious, dropping to the ground like a stone. The girl could barely stand on her own two feet and she held onto both Monty and Jasper’s hands for dear life as her legs wobbled.  </p><p>“So we’re adopting a kid,” Monty announced. “That okay with you guys?”</p><p>Clarke breathed a sigh of relief, wiping a few stray tears from her face as she helped Finn into a standing position. “That’s fine by me. Welcome to the family. I’m Clarke, this is Finn.” </p><p>“Madi,” the girl answered quietly. “If you haven’t already guessed, I’m an orange.” </p><p>Finn managed a laugh, “Well, kid. You’re also a lifesaver, so thanks.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Josephine tilted her head, studying him again. “What’s your name?” </p><p>“Bellamy Blake,” he answered. </p><p>She shook her head, “No. What is your new name?” </p><p>Bellamy sighed, looking up at her and shaking a piece of hair out of his face before he remembered that his hands were no longer bound and that he could just reach up and do it with his finger instead. They weren’t in the room with the water, they were in a different area of Mount Weather. Bigger. Brighter. No drains. Less pain.</p><p>“Your name?” Josephine prompted, “Don’t make this hard on yourself.” </p><p>“D32.” </p><p>Josephine smiled, “That wasn’t so hard, was it? Tell me about your old life quickly, I just want to make sure you’re remembering everything correctly.” </p><p>He took a deep breath. “My name was Bellamy Blake. I had a sister called Octavia. My mother’s name was Aurora, but she’s dead. I lived in Virginia with them before my house burned down.” </p><p>“Who burned down your house?” Josephine asked him. </p><p>“Bellamy Blake,” he answered without hesitation.</p><p>“And where is Bellamy Blake’s sister?” </p><p>He blinked once, trying to pull the memory from the closed-off part of his brain. It was a stretch, but he finally found it and brought it to the forefront of his mind, closing his eyes and watching the house burn. “She’s dead. He killed her.” </p><p>“Only took a month, but we’ve finally completed Phase One. I’m proud of you,” Josephine rested a hand on his knee. “Do you know that? I’m proud of how far you’ve come. Right, I think it’s time to put you in your own room, instead of the dorm. What do you think?”</p><p>“That… sounds nice,” he responded slowly. </p><p>“Come on then,” Josephine stood up and held out her hand, waiting for him to take it. After a moment of hesitation he did, and she led him out of the room. “It’s not far. You’ll like it here, once you’ve finished your training. You’ll do well.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Murphy woke up in a daze with Emori lying next to him. She was curled away from him, but they had somehow fallen asleep next to each other in Emori’s den. He realised his right arm was completely dead because she’d fallen asleep on top of it, but Murphy didn’t feel any urge to move. </p><p>Until the unmistakable sound of a vehicle made Murphy’s entire body go tense. The engine shut off and it was followed by the sound of four doors slamming and he shook Emori awake. “Emori, get up.” He pulled her to face him, trying to get her to wake up. “Emori!”</p><p>She grumbled and turned over again. “Come back in five minutes. Or ten. Or never.” </p><p>“As charming as you are in these early hours, <em> we have company.</em>” </p><p>Emori shot up, peeling back the hair from the side of her face with eyes wide in shock. “So we fight them.” </p><p>“I have a better idea,” Murphy grinned. “Let’s home alone these assholes.” </p><p>She raised an eyebrow, “Home alone?” </p><p>He bit back his surprise, “Add that to the list of movies that we are going to watch once this is all over. The point is, this kid is left home alone and these guys break into his house, so he uses everything at his disposal to get them out of there without physically fighting them. You know every inch of this place, tell me you have a plan?” </p><p>Emori caught on, “Oh, I know <em> exactly </em> what to do. But first, we get the lights.”</p><p>“Unless you have night vision—” Murphy was cut off as she produced two pairs of toy night vision goggles— “I stand corrected. Let’s get the lights.” </p><p>“There’s a circuit box on this floor,” she explained. “Once we hit the lights we can use the goggles to see them and make sure they’re not kids before we ‘home alone these assholes’.” </p><p>He nodded, “Well put. Let’s do this thing.” </p><p>Emori showed him where the circuit box was and Murphy put his hand against it, closing his eyes and sucking all the energy from it, draining the lights completely and plunging them into darkness. He nodded at her before realising she couldn’t see it yet, and turned his goggles on. </p><p>But while the lights were off, they were going to turn something on. They visit each of the escalators in turn and instead of leaving them frozen in place, Murphy put them in reverse so that they only went down. They walked cautiously towards the railing to look at the intruders as they came in. </p><p>Definitely not kids. </p><p>Four tracers had their guns out in the main entrance before they split up into teams of two, one going left and one going right. This was going to be harder than they expected. Murphy grabbed Emori and pulled her behind a counter as two of them came onto their floor. He held his hand over her mouth and she swatted him away, following it with a look that said “I can keep <em> myself </em> quiet thank you very much”.  </p><p>Once they had gone, the two of them emerged from their hiding spot and made their way along the floor quietly. Murphy held up his hand to stop her from going any further as he peered around the corner. Emori tapped him on the shoulder, dragging him into the nearest toy store. “John, how good is your aim?” she hissed. </p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I said,” Emori held up a nerf gun, “How good is your aim?”</p><p>He whistled quietly, his grin growing wider. “We’re about to find out.” </p><p>They armed up with the small guns, stacking bullets in every available pocket as they advanced into the main area. Murphy raised his gun and aimed it at the floor below, to the other two tracers who were sweeping the ground floor. He pulled the trigger and the bullet hit the man on the side of the head. The guy turned around and tried to figure out where it had come from, swinging his torch around wildly. </p><p>“No unnecessary risks,” Emori reminded him. “We want to survive, right?”</p><p>“I’ve got a better plan… were there any water pistols near the guns?” </p><p>“A couple, I think. Why?” </p><p>“If we wet the floor and then get something small, something with a charge, I can shock them without getting close to them,” he explained. </p><p>Emori smiled, “Split up. I’ll cut a few of the pipes, turn on all the taps and flood the bathrooms. You fill some super soakers and find our mini detonators. We’ll need something with enough charge that we can shock them with, right?”</p><p>“However much they have, I can amplify it. If you can get me to a strong enough source,” he decided. “Be careful.” </p><p>“You too,” she whispered. </p><p>It wasn’t long before Murphy’s shoes were squelching in the water that slowly covered the floor. He grabbed a bag and put the wet sneakers inside it, along with a spare hoodie and a few supplies. Grabbing the nearest pair of rubber boots he put them on inside, packing a pair for Emori just in case. They used rubber as an insulator at Caledonia, and he could use rubber as an insulator now. </p><p>The boots were new so they squeaked a little as he crossed the floor, but Murphy supposed speaking was better than squelching, at least by a little bit. He moved slowly to not make any noise, but the water didn’t just help him as a conductor, it also made it harder for the tracers to walk along without making any sound as their heavy footfalls turned into splashes.</p><p>“Get off of me!” Emori screamed and Murphy whirled around frantically, trying to find the source of the sound. He followed her cries to the ground floor, where one of the tracers had brought her, a hand clutched to his thigh where blood slowly trickled through. </p><p>“Little bitch stabbed me!” he complained, throwing her to the ground and making apparent the knife— the same knife that she had held to Murphy’s neck the day they met— sticking out of his leg. The insult made Murphy’s skin crawl and his hands clenched into fists. He had to have a plan. He had to make a plan. Shocking them would mean shocking Emori. She thrust her elbow back into the man’s stomach before stamping on his foot and trying to escape, only to be caught by one of the other tracers. </p><p>“I’m coming,” Murphy whispered. “I’m coming.” </p><p>He turned around and made his way over to the circuit box, concentrating and turning the power back on, wincing as he forgot to take off his goggles and the increase in light almost blinded him. </p><p>“She’s not alone, I knew it!” One of the tracers shouted. “Someone else is here. We need to find them.” </p><p>“Don’t worry,” Murphy pulled his bag back on and cracked his knuckles. “I’ll come to you.” </p><p>Each storefront he passed Murphy took some of the energy from it, feeling the electricity like lightning in his veins, increasing with every step. If he closed his eyes he could feel it building, like a humming that got greater and greater until it was all he could hear. The lights above flickered and some of them died as he absorbed more and more of the electricity. </p><p>It presented itself almost like a cloud above him, a flickering halo of electricity as his power grew. The tracers were standing in front of the entrance to one of the small cafes and they were in the process of securing Emori’s wrists with a zip tie when Murphy revealed himself. He focused hard on the speaker on the tracer closest to Emori’s belt and spread out its power, sending a surge into the man (and unfortunately Emori) that pushed them apart. </p><p>She nodded at him and dived into the restaurant, climbing haphazardly onto the counter and out of the way before he finally let out all of the electricity he had been collecting into the water surrounding them. It surged from his body in an invisible wave and the unmistakable stench of burning filled the air as it sizzled, latching on to the tracers and any and all of their devices, short-circuiting them and frying them completely. </p><p>All four of them crumpled, screaming and cursing until finally the building was silent. </p><p>Silent all apart from the <em> drip drip drip </em> of the water, Murphy’s heavy breathing as he swayed, grabbing the wall for support, and the splashing footsteps of Emori before she dropped to her knees, pulling her knife from the tracer’s leg and using it to cut the ties around her wrist. She grabbed their keys, pocketing them and washing her knife briefly before running over to Murphy. </p><p>“John,” she whispered, putting an arm around him to keep him upright and ignoring the static that leapt at her as she touched him. </p><p>“We okay?” he asked, leaning his entire body weight on her. </p><p>Emori grunted as she shifted her centre of gravity, making it easier to support him. “Yeah, we’re okay.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Miller sat in front of the crackling fire, absent-mindedly adding a few more small logs to it with his telekinesis as Mike walked in with a mug in each hand. “Cocoa?” Mike held one out to him. He didn’t reply, but Miller took the mug and raised it to his lips. It had been too damn long since he’d had a good cup of hot cocoa. </p><p>“Thanks,” he added at the end, before deciding better of it and patting the seat next to him. </p><p>Mike sat down slowly, careful not to spill his drink. “I’m an idiot, Nate,” he sighed. “I’m sorry. Thank you… for not leaving me.”</p><p>He wasn’t sure how to respond, so Miller stayed quiet, watching the flames above the rim of his mug and sipping it quietly. In the end he decided on, “I wasn’t mad at you for telling me to go, I was mad at you for thinking for even a <em> second </em> that it would actually work.” </p><p>“I know you better than that,” Mike said quietly. “I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”</p><p>Before he had time to think, Miller had placed his mug down on the table next to the couch and his lips were on Mike’s. It was gentle, soft, and then he pulled away and looked at anywhere but his friends face. If he had been looking, he would’ve noticed the grin that Mike was wearing, which only seemed to grow larger as he put his own mug down and turned Miller’s face towards his, kissing him purposefully.</p><p>Octavia rolled her eyes, watching them from a table by the window. “Took them long enough,” she muttered under her breath and Denae snorted into her cocoa. </p><p>“You saw that coming?” she asked, “I thought you’d only known them for like six hours.” </p><p>“Of course I saw that coming,” Octavia replied matter-of-factly. “You didn’t?”</p><p>Aden returned with a mug for him and one for Costia, who was sitting in the window instead of at the table with the rest of them. He handed it over to her, a puzzled look on his face. “Aren’t you going to get cold? The glass is freezing.” </p><p>“I’m a red,” she reminded him. “I’m like a walking radiator.” </p><p>“Fair enough,” he shrugged, taking his place at the table. “So, you really think you’re going to find East River?”</p><p>Octavia sighed, “I have to find my brother. If this ‘Slip Kid’ knows where he is, then I can get to him.” </p><p>“What happens if you hear he’s in a camp? You can’t exactly break him out, those places are like fortresses,” Adria pointed out. </p><p>Her eyes strayed towards Miller and Mike, who were now sharing a blanket on the couch. “If <em>they</em> got out, <em>I</em> can get in.” </p><p>“You said he’s a red,” Denae glanced at Costia briefly before turning her attention back to Octavia. “There are only two big camps that have reds, and I don’t even think they have them anymore, they all disappeared. Take Thurmond, for instance. It’s a hell of a step up from Caledonia.” </p><p>“Then I’ll find him, and I’ll get backup,” Octavia decided. </p><p>Costia shrugged, “Why don’t you just ask Lincoln?”</p><p>“What?” she frowned. </p><p>Costia rolled her eyes, “His older sister got drafted. Anya. If he can get a hold of her, she can tell him if she’s heard anything about your brother.” </p><p>“He has a sister?” Octavia seemed surprised. </p><p>Adria sighed, “He doesn’t like talking about it. It wouldn’t be fair on him.” </p><p>“Do you want your brother back or not?” Costia asked plainly. “Ask him.”</p><p>Octavia considered it. It <em> might </em> work, but if it didn’t, she’d be putting Lincoln through that unnecessarily, and they could trace the call and find the other kids. She made a decision, “East River is my best bet. Gray’s people are watching all communication so it would put you guys at risk. I’m not contacting Anya, it’s too risky. I’m going to East River.” </p><p>“Don’t tell me we’re losing someone <em> else </em> to East River?” Nyko complained as he walked in, leaning against the stairs. “Have they put the idea of paradise in your head? I, for one, don’t buy it.” </p><p>Lincoln overheard and followed him in, his voice low and soft, “You can stay here as long as you like. Octavia, you don’t have to go looking for a place that might not even exist.” </p><p>“I have to find my brother,” she confirmed. “If the Slip Kid can help me do that, then I’ll find him if it’s the last thing I do. I’ll leave the day after tomorrow.” </p><p>He sighed, “Fine. I don’t like this, but I have a feeling you’ll do it anyway. Before he left, Derrick had one clue. It didn’t make any sense, but it might help you. EDO, mean anything?” </p><p>“Nope,” Octavia shook her head in disappointment. “But it might at some point.” </p><p>Without warning, the front door burst open and Lexa appeared, holding what appeared to be a small dog in the air. “His name is Helios and we’re keeping him!” she announced, grinning, before depositing the puppy in the lap of a rather surprised-looking Costia, who once she had recovered made no move against the decision as he curled up and fell asleep on her. </p><p>“Is your house always as weird as this?” Octavia asked, raising our eyebrow. </p><p>Adria pulled a face, “It was only a matter of time until they added to the list of stray kids with stray animals. Not that I’m complaining.” She leant over and scratched Helios behind the ears and he let out a small, high-pitched yawn.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Steal My Heart (I Promise I Won't Tell)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Murphy and Emori decide to go on a road trip,<br/>Octavia sets off for East River with unexpected company,<br/>Raven decides to train,<br/>Jasper and Monty are adorable geniuses,<br/>and Bellamy has his first Jamboree mission.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Murphy’s eyes shot open as his head hit the dashboard of the car and let out a grunt of pain. A rather apologetic-looking Emori cursed the lack of decent road repairs and returned to driving the car, giving him time to look around. There were fields on all sides, and he had no idea how long they’d been driving for. </p><p>The last thing he remembered was Emori hauling his ass to the car after the run-in with the tracers. <em> This was their car, </em> he realised. “Did we steal their car?” </p><p>“Is it really stealing if they’re dead?” she shrugged. “Besides, they basically gave us the keys.”</p><p>“They were unconscious,” he pointed out. </p><p>“<em>Exactly</em>,” Emori reminded him. “They might as well have just given them to us.”</p><p>He laughed, rubbing his forehead where it had hit the dashboard. “How long was I out?” </p><p>“You weren’t really unconscious,” she paused. “You just weren’t exactly conscious. Like you didn’t pass out, you just sort of fell asleep really slowly. I grabbed your bag, by the way. It’s a little wet though— you dropped it on the way out.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Murphy sighed, reaching down and exchanging his rubber boots for the almost-dry sneakers that he had been wearing before. “What now? That place was all we had.”</p><p>Emori bit her lip before replying, “We have each other. We don’t need it anymore. Where do you want to go?” </p><p>“Somewhere I haven’t been before,” he shrugged. “Like the west coast. What about you?”</p><p>“I’ve never seen the sea,” Emori admitted. “But I’d like to.” </p><p>He grinned, searching through the glove box for a map and unfolding it in the passenger seat. “How about LA? I’ve heard it’s nice this time of year. It’d take us two days to drive, if we took breaks and stopped for gas?”</p><p>“LA sounds good,” she smiled. “You just appointed yourself chief navigator.”</p><p>Murphy turned on the radio and Emori shot him a look, rolling her eyes as he lip-synced along to the music. “Good,” he grinned at her between verses. “I’m in the mood for a road trip anyway.” He looked up and noticed a flash drive on a chain hanging from the rearview mirror. “What’s that?” </p><p>“Oh, that’s mine,” Emori grabbed it with one hand and looped the chain around her neck, tucking the drive securely underneath her shirt. </p><p>He raised an eyebrow, “What’s it for?” </p><p>“Me,” she replied, giving nothing away. “Now tell me which turn I need to take.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Octavia’s bag was packed and she hovered by the door. The cabin was safe, she <em> could </em> have had a home there, but it wouldn’t have really been home. Not without Bellamy. Lincoln came over and leant against the door, “You’ll need snacks for the road.” He handed her more food, probably not realising that Nyko had already given her several other various snacks, and a small first aid kit. </p><p>“Thanks,” she smiled, taking them anyway. </p><p>“Come and visit us? Once you’ve got your brother back, we’d all love to meet him.”</p><p>She laughed, “Will do.” </p><p>Costia arrived and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, “That’s non-negotiable by the way. You seem like an utter riot and we could’ve been good mates.” </p><p>“Yeah,” Octavia grinned. “I’ll see you.” </p><p>She said goodbye to Nyko, Lexa, Luna and the rest of the kids but Miller and Mike were nowhere to be seen until they thundered down the stairs at the last minute, catching her before she could open the door. “You didn’t think we’d let you go without us, did you?” Miller grinned. “Come on, Blake. East River awaits!” </p><p>Mike opened the door and stepped out into the cold air, “We got this.” </p><p>Octavia threw her arms around Lincoln’s neck, “Thank you for helping us.” She planted a light kiss on his cheek before waving to the others. “Someone’s gotta keep <em> those </em> two in check,” she laughed, closing the door behind them. “So how are we gonna do this?”</p><p>“EDO. It’s gotta be a code of some sort,” Mike suggested. “It could be numbers, like 5-4-15? Damn, we should’ve asked that green girl for help before we left.” </p><p>“If Denae knew something, she would’ve said it,” Octavia pointed out. She looked over to find Miller seemingly deep in thought, with his brow furrowed as he walked, not even entirely watching where he was going. Mike walked next to him, keeping him on a steady path as they made their way down towards the road to see if they could find a car. “Miller?”</p><p>Miller shrugged, “This might be a longshot, you know how people sub out zero for ‘oh?’ 540 sounds like a Virginia area code to me. Northern. I think it covers Harrisonburg and somewhere else, but I’m not 100%.” </p><p>“Nate you <em> legend</em>,” Mike clapped him on the back. “That’s a start. Did Lincoln tell you where exactly we were? That might be a start.” </p><p>Octavia laughed, “Yeah.” She pulled out a map and handed it over, pointing to the wooded area where they were. “Here. If we find ourselves a vehicle it could take about five hours maybe, but on foot… I don’t even <em> want </em> to think about it.” </p><p>“Well what you <em> don’t </em> know about me,” Miller winked, “Is that I am an <em> excellent </em> thief.” </p><p>“Didn’t you get caught?” Mike raised an eyebrow at him. </p><p>Miller laughed, “I got caught underage drinking, I’m still an excellent thief. The booze was stolen, but they couldn’t prove that.” </p><p>“Am I gonna regret letting you two come?” Octavia asked, rolling her eyes but grinning at the same time. </p><p>“Not in the slightest,” Miller grinned. “Find me a car, and I’ll do the rest.” </p><p>Mike stepped out onto the open road, “Left or right?” </p><p>“Right!” Octavia called out, and they set off down the road. “If this map isn’t out of date, then there’s a gas station further up. We can take a car there.” </p><p>Miller made a show of stretching his arms and fingers, flexing them and then stretching his wrists in preparation. “Sit back, and enjoy watching the <em> professional </em> at work.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Raven walked through the endless corridors that made up the Children’s League HQ. She hadn’t seen Cole since the debriefing for the op (which went <em> perfectly </em> in her opinion, despite what Alban says), and she had a proposition for him. She’d overheard from an overly-excitable blue that he was in the gym, so she made her way there before the information no longer applied, checking that he was alone before shutting the door behind her. </p><p>“Stewart,” she announced herself. </p><p>“Reyes,” he looked up, “Heard you were looking for me?” </p><p>She rolled her eyes, “What gave you that impression?”</p><p>“You’re here, aren’t you?” Cole laughed, and Raven couldn’t exactly argue with that. </p><p>“I have an idea,” she revealed. “Would you be open to it?” </p><p>He sighed, “I’m not fake dating you to make that Kyle friend of yours jealous.”</p><p>“What?” Raven pulled a face, “There are so many things wrong with what you’ve just said. So many. I don’t think I can count them on one hand. But that’s beside the point. I came here to ask you to help me train.” </p><p>“You came here to ask me <em> what? </em>” Cole’s eyebrows shot up, and Raven was sure that if they went any higher, they’d disappear beneath his hair. “Darlin’, I’m gonna need you to repeat that one more time.” </p><p>“I came here,” Raven spoke slowly, careful to make sure that he caught <em> every </em> word, “To ask <em> you </em> to help me <em> train. </em> You said it yourself, you’re my senior agent. But you need to train yourself, in more than the usual way,” she mimed an explosion with her hands. “And so do I. I think we can help each other.” </p><p>Cole shook his head, unstrapping the pair of boxing gloves and taking them off. “You’re delusional, kid.” </p><p>“I’m like a year younger than you,” she pointed out. “You really gonna call me ‘kid’?” </p><p>“You’re out of your league here,” he sighed. </p><p>“I think I’m <em> precisely </em> in your league, actually,” Raven folded her arms. “We both need to practice. We both know each other’s secrets. We won’t <em> tell </em> each other’s secrets— mutually assured destruction and all that crap— but this could be useful, and you know it.” </p><p>Cole hesitated, “This… this training, what would it involve?” </p><p>“I help you figure out how to control his fire that you have, and you help me figure out how to keep my abilities in check,” she replied with a shrug. “Are you interested or not?” </p><p>“I might be a little interested… If I agreed, hypothetically of course, when would we start?”</p><p>Raven smirked, “<em>Hypothetically, </em> we could start right now. But that’s all hypothetical, isn’t it?” </p><p>“I’m in,” he decided. </p><p>“I know,” she shrugged. “You just wanted to make it seem like you were thinking it over. Are you busy? Or can we start now.” </p><p>Cole paused for a moment before answering. “We can start now. But not here. I know a place that we can go.” </p><p>“This isn’t a place where you take girlfriends, is it? I’m not going to sit down and find a bra between the couch cushions?” Raven raised an eyebrow.</p><p>He laughed, “Where we’re going, there isn’t even a couch.” Cole grabbed his towel and slung it over his shoulder, his blonde hair clung to his face in waves where beads of sweat fell from his brow. “After you, darlin’.” Raven walked through the door and held it open for him, and he ducked under her arm to lead the way. “In the basement, there aren’t any cameras and barely anyone goes down there, so we won’t be disturbed.” </p><p>It was a short trip down to the basement and the door swung shut behind them. “You first,” Raven prompted, sitting cross-legged on the floor. </p><p>“Well you’re clearly not going to waste any time, are you?” He sighed, dropping down opposite her. “I have the basics, by the way. It’s just controlling it that’s the issue.”</p><p>“Show me.”</p><p>Cole opened his palm and a small flame appeared in it, Raven’s eyes widened, really seeing his ability for the first time. When he first demonstrated it, setting fire to the guard’s jacket on the op, she had only seen the aftermath, not the flame itself. She was mystified by his power. For someone who was used to things being explained by science, it was a completely different experience to sit across from someone <em> holding fire in their hand. </em></p><p>“Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speechless before, Reyes,” Cole whistled, closing his hand and letting the flame die. </p><p>“Shut up,” Raven rolled her eyes. “What else can you do?” </p><p>Cole shed his jacket and tossed it to one side, shuffling backwards away from her. “Don’t move.” He closed his eyes and his right hand clenched into a fist by his side, which was the only warning Raven got before his entire arm set alight. Cole sat there for a moment, the flames flickering as he concentrated. “I can make it happen,” he whispered. “I can start it, but sometimes I can’t control it.” </p><p>“I know the feeling,” Raven replied quietly. “All it takes is a brush of hands, or a headlock when sparring and I’m in their head. No one knows what it’s like, to be <em> inside </em> someone’s thoughts, their memories. It doesn’t even make any sense.”</p><p>“It makes a lot of sense, Raven,” Cole looked at her, moving to sit back directly opposite. “They don’t burn do they? Not like us.” </p><p>She reached for his arm and saw a flash of memories, pulling back after barely brushing it. Raven couldn’t tell if his skin was warm from the fire, or just warm in general but it was smooth as if there had never been any flames in the first place. Smooth everywhere but his hands, which were covered in calluses, the kind only caused by guns. </p><p>“There’s nothing like a little pain to remind you you’re alive,” she managed a small smile. </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Jasper sighed, “We’re smart, we can do this.” </p><p>Monty nodded, “Damn right we are. We just have to think logically.” </p><p>“I told you I know EDO, that’s it,” Madi shrugged.</p><p>In the past few hours, the girl had revealed that not only did she also know about the East River that Finn had been looking for, she also had a clue of her own. <em> EDO. </em> It didn’t really make any sense to Clarke, Finn or Madi, but Jasper and Monty were determined to crack it. </p><p>“It has to be some sort of code, right?” Clarke suggested. </p><p>“Definitely. I’m thinking it translates to numbers. 5-4-15. What could a four-digit code represent?” Jasper racked his brains, sighing loudly and dramatically in the passenger seat. “Could it be a password? The question is what <em> for...</em>” </p><p>“Grid reference? 54,15?” Monty offered, “No… that wouldn’t work.” </p><p>Finn pulled a face, “Don’t people sometimes say ‘oh’ instead of zero? Maybe we’re overthinking it.” </p><p>Jasper’s eyes widened, “540. Three digits… Radio station? Area code?”</p><p>Madi blinked, “Virginia area code. It’s a Virginia area code.” </p><p>“We already know the camp is in Virginia, so that’s—” Finn started, but he was cut off by Monty. </p><p>“Jasper, run that by me again?”</p><p>Jasper shrugged. “540. Three digits… radio station? Area code?” </p><p>Monty pulled the car over, ignoring the confused looks from the others as he turned his full attention to the radio, switching to AM when FM didn’t go past 108. He spun the dial higher and higher until he got to the station he wanted. “540 AM.” The station emitted an unholy screech and Clarke reached into the front to change it but Monty swatted her hand away.</p><p>He turned the volume down but the station stayed the same, and Clarke looked up with confusion as the speaker let out a click and the static disappeared, going completely silent for a moment before a message rang out that got everyone’s attention. </p><p>
  <em> “If you can hear this, you are one of us. If you are one of us, you can find us. Lake Prince, Virginia.” </em>
</p><p>“Fuck,” Clarke breathed. “Did we just—” </p><p>“I think we did,” Finn laughed.</p><p>“I think we better change course for Lake Prince,” Monty decided, letting out a sigh of relief. </p><p>Jasper turned the dial again and settled on another station, one with <em> actual </em> music on this time. “Is this age-appropriate?” He paused, looking to Madi. “Ah, it only says ‘fuck’ every now and then, it’s fine. It’s not like we don’t do that. Case and point: Clarke.” </p><p>Clarke rolled her eyes, prepared to deliver a counter-argument before sighing in defeat and deciding it wasn’t worth it. A smile crept its way onto her face. <em> East River. </em> If that place was as good as Finn said it was, then they were going to be okay. </p><p><em> “Day after day, I will walk and I will play,” </em> Jasper began. <em> “But the day after today, I will stop, and I will start…” </em></p><p>The guitar kicked in as Monty pulled back out onto the road with a grin, shaking his head in disbelief at Jasper’s singing before joining in. <em> “Why can’t I get just one kiss? Why can’t I get just one kiss?” </em></p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Bellamy pulled on the uniform that he’d been given without complaints. It consisted of a pair of black cargo trousers, a plain t-shirt and a padded black jacket kind of like the ones the Psi Special Forces soldiers wore, the only difference being the red accents. “D32, report to the main door for your assignment,” an unfamiliar voice echoed in his ear through the comms unit Dr Tsing had left him. </p><p>He tapped it twice, the code for “signal received” and pulled on his boots quickly, tightening the laces before stepping out the door of his room and closing it behind him. Bellamy followed the rest of his team, which was now Keenan, Dax and Mason— he wasn’t sure what had happened to Peter or Glen— and they collected at the door. </p><p>They had been allowed to walk freely around Mount Weather after the end of the first phase of conditioning. It wasn’t that the guards trusted them— that would <em> never </em> happen— but they did seem to relax a little once the kids were less defensive. </p><p>He risked asking a question, “Sir, where are Colton and Dickson?” </p><p>“Not that it’s any of your business,” the PSF frowned at him, “But they’re part of a group being sent to Thurmond.”</p><p>That caught Bellamy’s attention slightly, but he knew not to push his luck and ask anything else. Thurmond was the oldest and largest of all the rehabilitation camps and before the camp system was created, it was used to carry out experiments on psi kids in an attempt to find a cure. Even though realistically there was no cure. </p><p>“You are being sent to a warehouse in Palm Springs, California because we believe that it is a base of operations for the underground news network going by ‘Amplify’. Your mission is to burn the place to the ground and then report back to the airfield for immediate extraction. The journey should be roughly five hours each way.” One of the PSFs explained. “No hostages, no witnesses. Clear?”</p><p>“Crystal,” Keenan confirmed as the doors swung open and they were greeted with outside air for the first time in a while. </p><p>How long had it been since Bellamy had last set foot outside? <em> Too long. </em> </p><p>The group climbed into the back of the transport truck to take them to the airfield and sat there in silence. There was no time for small talk and no point in making conversation anyway. You speak when you need to, anything other than that is deemed unnecessary and pretty much a waste of oxygen. Bellamy flexed his hand for something to do, curling it into a fist and uncurling it flat against the side of his leg. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone in his team and he didn’t utter a word until the doors slid open again and they had arrived at the airfield. </p><p>They got onto the transport plane in silence, and a young man was sitting in one of the seats, waiting for them. His black hair was thick and shiny, and it contrasted against his pale skin. He seemed to be surrounded by an air of authority, and Bellamy wondered where he’d seen him before. </p><p>And then it hit him. </p><p>
  <em> Clancy Gray. </em>
</p><p>He was standing in front of the supposedly “reformed” son of the president. </p><p>Clancy grinned, and although he didn’t open his mouth, Bellamy could hear his voice as clear as day inside his head. It wasn’t exactly a voice he could ignore either, the damn kid had been all over the media preaching the “If I can be cured, you can be cured” bullshit. He should’ve known he wasn’t <em> reformed. </em> Although it was surprising that he was an orange. </p><p><em> “I suppose you’ve been given your assignment already?” </em> Clancy smiled, showing his perfect teeth like an animal in the instant before it strikes its prey. <em> “You’re the primary team, I thought it was finally time to check-in and see you in action.”  </em></p><p>“It’s not a party until <em> I’m </em> here!” Josephine emerged through the door at the last minute. “Honestly Clance, if I’d known you were coming I’d have got here sooner.” </p><p>“Josie,” he sighed, “Always a pleasure.” </p><p>This time it was Josephine’s voice that echoed inside Bellamy’s head. <em> “Everything has to go perfectly today.”  </em></p><p>Damn, no pressure then. </p><p>Most of the five-hour flight was punctuated by Josephine’s high pitched voice, trying to make conversation with a less-than-interested Clancy. It was safe to say that the president’s son wasn’t as charming in real life as he seemed on tv. The plane touched down on the landing strip and the team of four prepared to walk out into the awaiting van. Clancy walked slowly and purposefully towards the front seat but Josephine jogged after him. </p><p>“I call shotgun!” she shouted, and he turned around and shot her a look that made her eyes turn glassy as she froze, giving him enough time to slide into the passenger seat before releasing her. “Ass,” she muttered, shaking it off and climbing into the back with the red team. </p><p>The van rolled to a stop outside the warehouse and sent Dax to do reconnaissance to make sure it was the right place. Sure enough, the inside was filled with various broadcasting equipment and there were several supposedly high-ranking Amplify workers inside. Keenan swapped out the building’s sprinkler water with lighter fluid and the two of them returned to the others. </p><p>Clancy leaned against the passenger door of the van, arms crossed and watching intently as the reds spread out at each corner of the building. Josephine stood next to him, half-watching but more interested in making sure that they were a safe distance away when the blaze started, pulling out a pair of sunglasses to watch it with. </p><p>Each red tapped their earpiece. Keenan first, then Mason, then Dax, and then finally Bellamy tapped his, the signal to start. </p><p>The warehouse erupted in flames. </p><p>The heat and force of them threw Bellamy backwards a few feet, but he regained his balance and began to move back towards the van as the second wave took hold, the lighter fluid intensifying the blaze and sending glass shards out as the remaining windows shattered. He raised an arm to shield his face and squinted at the bright lights. </p><p>It was impressive, to say the least. Equal parts horrifying and beautiful. </p><p>“D32, what’s your status? Get your ass back over here,” Josephine prompted, and he wondered how she’d gotten herself an earpiece. </p><p>The gunshot pierced the air, distracting Bellamy from the flames as he turned around to see where it had come from. He expected to feel pain when he realised the gun had been aiming at him, the young woman holding it with a shaking hand as she took aim again. “Freak!” she shouted. </p><p>Bellamy looked down, wondering why he hadn’t been hit until the sun hid behind the clouds and he saw the body lying halfway between them, blood leaking from Keenan’s side. He rushed over to her, putting pressure on the wound. “Soldier down!” he called for help through the earpiece. “I repeat, soldier down! We’re on the west side of the building and need a medic!” </p><p>Keenan’s face paled as she lost more blood, and another bullet hit the ground near them as the woman tried to keep her gun arm steady. Bellamy got one final look at her face before she burst into flames, screaming as she dropped to the ground before laying still, fire surrounding her. </p><p>
  <em> No hostages, no witnesses. </em>
</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Miller held up his hand to stop them from moving any further as the owner of the car stepped inside the gas station. “We need to throw them off the scent first,” he advised, waving his hand so that the bolts holding the number plate in place slowly unscrewed and he lowered the plate to the ground. “Mike, do the other side. We’re gonna swap it with the truck over there.” </p><p>“On it,” Mike nodded, keeping low to the ground and flattening his back against the side of a pickup truck as he used his telekinesis to remove the plate on the other side. Miller swapped the first plate with the truck nearby and Mike did the same with the one on the back. </p><p>“I was a thief before I was psi, remember?” Miller grinned as the car door popped open with a pronounced click. “Get in.” Octavia climbed in the back and Mike followed after as Miller tried to hotwire the car, cursing when he did something wrong and almost electrocuted himself. “Okay, so I’m a <em> little </em> out of practice.” </p><p>Octavia rolled her eyes, climbing into the passenger seat and resting her hand next to the keyhole, “Move over.” Her eyes closed and her face took on a look of concentration as she steadied her breathing. “I’ve never done this before, so sorry if I accidentally kill us.” </p><p>“I’m sorry, <em> what—</em>” Mike was cut off as the engine kicked in, spluttering to life and letting all three of them relax with relief as Octavia slumped back into the passenger seat with a weak laugh. </p><p>“Let’s get out of here before they realise we’re in their car?” Octavia suggested.</p><p>Miller nodded, checking the mirror before putting the car in drive and pulling out of the gas station car park and waiting until they were far enough away before putting the window down and turning the radio on. </p><p><em> “Day after day, I get angry, and I will say,” </em> he sang along. <em> “That the day is in my sight, when I’ll take a bow and say goodnight.” </em></p><p>Mike ducked his head, grinning and sharing a look with Octavia, who rolled down her own window and held her hand out it, tracing the breeze with her fingertips.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The song on the radio is the same one featured in 3x01 in the rover scene and it's called "Add It Up" by Violent Femmes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. If I Steal Your Kisses Baby, Pay My Bail</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Raven and Cole train a little more, and Raven's project takes a turn. Mike, Miller and Octavia experience car trouble.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Each mind is different, give me a second,” Raven rolled her eyes. “Some are messy, some are layered, some look like they’ve had a bad interior design job and never gotten redone…” she looked up to see Cole quirk an eyebrow at her. “Shut up, I tell it like it is.” </p><p>“And what does my mind look like?” He shifted uneasily, filled with a little bit of regret at agreeing to let someone who he’d barely known for a week loose inside his head. </p><p>Raven closed her eyes again, placing her hand back on the inside of his wrist. “Well it’s not a mess. But it certainly isn’t layered either. Or tidy. It’s… different.” </p><p>Cole closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was in a different room. His room. “How—” </p><p>“I thought it’d be easier if I brought you in with me. You can tell me what I can and can’t see,” Raven explained nervously, looking around. “We start here, and then it’s literally like taking a walk through memory lane.” </p><p>He nodded and took a deep breath before opening the door. Cole brushed a stray piece of blond hair out of his face and stepped out into what should’ve been the corridor, but instead was onto a street. There were two houses and the rest was open land. On the left was a house he could barely look at. The house he had lived in with his mom and his birth dad. On the right, was a house he really didn’t want to visit, but it was better than the other option. Harry’s house. His stepdad. </p><p>Cole led Raven towards it and she pushed open the door. She looked around, glancing at a couple of photos on the wall. “Is this your brother? Liam?” </p><p>“Yeah,” he sighed. “Lee came to the league for a bit, but it wasn’t for him… I helped him get out. Haven’t heard from him since. The last I saw on the tracer network was that he got his ass shipped to Caledonia, and broke out after a year or so.”</p><p>Raven’s eyebrows shot up, “The kid actually <em> broke out </em> of a camp? Pretty ballsy, clearly takes after you.” </p><p>Cole rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of pride in his expression as he continued, “Not only did he break out, it was a mass breakout and a hundred kids escaped. The rest…” he trailed off. “The rest weren’t so lucky.” </p><p>After seeing the look on his face, Raven changed the subject, tapping one of the pictures on the wall. “This you?” When he nodded, she grinned, “You were such an adorable child. What happened?” </p><p>He swatted her arm, “Shut up.” </p><p>A shrill beeping noise brought them to their senses. </p><p>“Hate to cut this short— I’d love to see more embarrassing baby Cole pics— but that’s the timer,” Raven sighed, pulling them both out of Cole’s memories sharply. “I have business to attend to.” </p><p>“What business?” Cole laughed. “The greens don’t need your help to build the chatters now they’ve finalised the design, and you don’t have any ops coming up. Where are you sneaking off to? Cheating on that boyfriend of yours with your engineer friend?”</p><p>The look she shot him was enough to make plants wilt and die under its heat. </p><p>“Okay, that was out of line,” Cole conceded. “I’m just interested. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” </p><p>Raven tightened her ponytail and pulled her red jacket back on. “Wick and I have a project. That’s all.”</p><p>“A project?”</p><p>“A project,” she confirmed. “Same time tomorrow?” </p><p>“Same time tomorrow,” Cole nodded. </p><p>With that, Raven turned on her heel and walked purposefully out of their room in the basement. She climbed the stairs and found Wick within ten minutes, sliding into the seat next to him in the computer lab. Wick grinned, opening his laptop. “We got a hit. Several, actually.”</p><p>“Several?” Raven raised an eyebrow at him. “Please tell me he’s not doing something stupid.” </p><p>“By the looks of things, he isn’t with Griffin anymore, which wouldn’t make any sense, right? Safety in numbers, plus he’d be an idiot not to join forces with her. And on top of that, each new post makes it seem as if he’s changed direction drastically in comparison to their earlier movements. Which made me think, <em> why? </em>” Wick paused for effect. </p><p>She rolled her eyes, “Continue.”</p><p>“It’s not them. The people who have been sighted matching their description. It’s not them. <em> Because</em>,” he paused for effect again and Raven suppressed the urge to punch him lightly, “those people don’t exist. The reports are fake. They’re all made by the same person, making it seem like there’s a group of them— there’s another kid now, a young orange— are on their way to Pittsburgh. But that’s not where they’re going. They’re throwing us off the scent by making posts on a tracer’s account. I don’t know how they managed it, but they’ve gotten a hold of someone’s login details and they’re trying to plant a false trail.” </p><p>Raven let out a breath and rested her head on the table, “Oh my god. That’s brilliant.” An idea hit her, and she pulled the laptop towards her, tapping keys furiously. “If we can track down the individual device then we can find them, and if I can get into it then we can leave them messages.” </p><p>“You really think you can do that? I mean, I have complete faith in you Reyes, but that’s on a whole other—” </p><p>She cut him off, “There’s a green kid. Part of Cate’s team. Nicolas Ramirez. He can do it.” Raven closed the laptop and stood up, tucking it under one arm. </p><p>Wick’s brow furrowed, “You do know that’s mine, right?” </p><p>“I’ll be back,” she assured him.</p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>He killed someone, without a second thought. He had <em> killed </em> someone. He was a <em> murderer. </em> Bellamy ran a hand through his hair as he paced in the room he had been assigned. It had been declared a ‘successful’ mission, and Keenan was still in surgery. </p><p><em> No hostages. No witnesses. </em> </p><p>He had been following <em> orders. </em> The woman had been <em> armed. </em> She could’ve shot someone else if he hadn’t. Yet… he didn’t <em> want </em> to be a killer. He didn’t <em> want </em> to be D32, a soldier. He wanted to be <em> Bellamy Blake</em>. </p><p>His hands shook as he rested them in his lap, sitting down on the bed with a sigh. </p><p>It wasn’t as if he’d just shot her, and it had been quick. </p><p>He had burned a woman alive, and her screams would haunt his dreams. </p><p>
  <em> He was a monster. </em>
</p><p>Bellamy stood up and crossed to the door, deciding to check on Keenan as an excuse to be anything but alone. He was surprised and more than a little concerned to find that the door was locked. He put his shoulder against it but it still didn’t budge. Grunting, he put his entire weight against it but the door stayed closed. </p><p>“Why the fuck am I locked in?” he growled, tensing all over. </p><p>A familiar face appeared on the other side of the door. <em> Josephine. </em> She watched him and delivered the message into his mind. It sounded almost as if she was speaking but her lips barely moved as it echoed inside his head. “They are worried that you’re a liability. Cadets of your… <em> strength </em> can tend to relapse after their first mission.” </p><p>“Relapse?” Bellamy scoffed, “Fight the programming, is that what you mean?” </p><p>“Don’t make any rash decisions,” she decided to speak out loud this time. “Or we’ll be right back under the bright lights and the sprinklers like when we first met. Do you want that? I can tell that you don’t.” </p><p>His right hand clenched into a fist by his side, “Josephine, let me out.” </p><p>“Can’t do that, sorry.” </p><p>Bellamy groaned, “I just want to visit Keenan.” </p><p>“Look, it’s not happening. I don’t know, read a book or something? Try not to set anything on fire?” </p><p>Wrong choice of words as Bellamy’s emotions reached a breaking point and his arm was engulfed by flames seconds later. He stood there behind the door, his gaze unwavering and latched onto hers even as the sprinkler system activated and soaked the small living quarters. </p><p>Josephine threw her head back in a dramatic groan, “I <em> tried </em> to warn you.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p><em> “Remember me for centuries,” </em> Mike sang horrendously off-key as Miller drummed on the outside of the steering wheel and Octavia trailed her hand out the window. The song drew to a close and Octavia rolled her eyes at the two boys, a grin on her face. So what if they were in the middle of nowhere, at least they knew they were on their way to East River which meant she was closer to finding Bellamy than ever. </p><p>The radio crackled as the signal dropped momentarily before flicking back into action mid-verse of another song. Miller smacked the car like that would help and Octavia rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time as she waved her hand and it changed stations to another with better music. “Honestly,” Octavia sighed. “You gotta improve your taste in music. Please.” </p><p>“I’m offended by that,” Miller changed the station back. “My taste is impeccable.” </p><p>“Out of the last ten songs that have come on, you’ve enjoyed all of them and only two were decent,” she pointed out, flicking the station back. </p><p>Mike narrowed his eyes at her, “Centuries is legendary, you can’t throw shade at centuries.” </p><p>“Centuries is the exception to your boyfriend’s poor taste. I’ll give you that one,” Octavia laughed. </p><p>“Drive Blake, maybe then I’ll let you choose music,” Miller reverted the station to the old one and she rolled her eyes. </p><p>“Drive faster and then maybe <em> I’ll </em> let <em> you </em> choose music,” she shot back with a smirk. “You drive slower than my mom and her car used to break down four times a week. Mike, map. Where are we?”</p><p>“Nowhere important,” Mike replied with a shrug. </p><p>Miller laughed, “Real helpful, Mikey.”  </p><p>“Glad to be of assistance, Nate,” he grinned back. </p><p>Miller raised an eyebrow at him via the rearview mirror and Mike winked at him. Octavia could barely put up with their flirting on a good day, and today they were being especially insufferable together. “Eyes on the road, Miller,” she warned. </p><p>“I know,” he brushed it off, pulling a face at Mike. </p><p>She noticed the pothole before he did, “Miller! Road!” Octavia snapped, jerking the wheel to the side to avoid what could almost be considered a crater in the ground and catching the back tire on it. Miller swerved, trying to keep the car upright but it had clipped the hole at an awkward angle and soon the vehicle was on its side, skidding along the tarmac with a flat tire. </p><p>The side windows cracked slightly but the seatbelts kept them in place even with the car perpendicular to the road’s surface. They hung there in silence for a moment, miraculously uninjured before Mike broke the silence. </p><p>“Should’ve goddamn hitchhiked,” he commented. </p><p>Octavia pinched the bridge of her nose, taking deep breaths. “Really? <em> That’s </em> your take on the situation?” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>The car rolled to a halt by the beach car park and Murphy hopped out, leaving Emori to lock the doors behind them. It was dark outside which meant the beach was almost empty and the Santa Monica Pier wasn’t as busy as it would be during the day. </p><p>“John!” Emori caught his attention before he began to make his way onto the sand. “Where are we?” </p><p>“Santa Monica Pier, baby!” His lips spread into a cheeky grin. “Just a pit stop on the grand tour that is our West Coast road trip. You said you wanted to see the sea, right? Now are you coming or not?” </p><p>She laughed before following him onto the sand and kicking off her shoes. Emori tucked them under one arm and took off her flash drive necklace, tucking it inside as she set them down on the sand. She glanced at Murphy, who was slowly walking towards the water and leaving a trail of clothes in his wake. First he shed his jacket, then his hoodie, followed by his shoes (which really should’ve been first) and then finally his shirt as he dived into the water, disappearing into the waves. </p><p>Emori watched him fondly, before picking up everything but his shirt and putting them in the car where they’d be safe. When she opened the door it seemed to think that they would be getting back inside and the stereo turned on, playing the song she first heard Murphy singing as he walked through the halls of the shopping mall. Unable to hide her grin for much longer, she reached in and turned the volume up, loud enough so that they could hear it over the waves as she walked back onto the beach. </p><p>He popped up from the depths, smoothing back his wet hair and gesturing to the water. “Come on in, the water’s fine.” </p><p>She rolled her eyes, laughing at him. “Who knew cockroaches could swim?” </p><p>Murphy waded to the shallows, ocean water dripping from his hair and his shorts as he reached for her, “What, you want me to teach you?” </p><p>“No…” she protested as he reached for her hand, refusing to give it back and pulling her into the water. “John, no. John!” Emori laughed as he led her deeper, “I’m serious, John!” </p><p>“You’re coming with me.” One last tug and she was shoulders-deep in the cold water. He lifted her up and dunked them both and she climbed on top of him to break through the surface. </p><p>She shook her head, warning “You are going to <em> pay </em> for this, John.” </p><p>“Oh, am I?” he teased, before spluttering as a large wave of water hit him in the face. </p><p>Emori was overcome with giggles as she tackled him, clinging onto him as they got deeper and she remembered that she can’t actually swim. “You better not let me drown,” she whispered. </p><p>“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he smirked as she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and curled her legs around his waist. “Oh, we’re doing a piggyback ride now, are we? You better prepare for me to dive then.” </p><p>“Don’t you dare—” </p><p>“Three,” he teased. </p><p>“John—”</p><p>“Two…” </p><p>“<em> John</em>—” </p><p>He gave her just enough time to take in a deep breath before ducking under the water and swimming a few strokes and then emerging again, shaking his head like a wet dog and flinging water in all directions. “So what’s your first impression of the sea?”</p><p>Emori let out a breath, spreading her arms and leaning back in the water. She let him support her until she was floating entirely on her back and looking up at the stars. “I never want to leave,” she whispered, smiling blissfully. The rest of the song continued to echo from the car stereo and Murphy let out a short laugh as he recognised it. </p><p>“Is that?”</p><p>“The song that was playing when we met?” She grinned. “Fitting, since I cut you off the first time.”</p><p>Murphy pulled a face jokingly, “I was going to say the song that was playing when you held a knife to my throat.” </p><p>“You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”</p><p>“Why would I? Hell of a first impression, by the way.” He spread his arms and tilted his head skyward, <em> “But that was the river, and this is the sea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…” </em></p><p>She laughed, splashing him with seawater and running a hand through her wet hair before her expression changed, memories of their last moments in the mall resurfacing. “Thank you, for saving me from the tracers.” </p><p>“Not that you needed any help,” he remarked, smiling. </p><p>Emori shook her head, “I mean it, John. I thought you were gonna do the survivors move and get the hell out of there.” </p><p>He stepped closer to her, his feet resting on the seabed and hers on her tiptoes as his face took on a serious expression. “I don’t want to die alone.” His playful smile returned just after, “Besides, what’s the point in surviving if you’ve got no one to survive with?” </p><p>“Well said,” she whispered before brushing her lips against his, a moment of brief hesitation making both grin like idiots before finally catching each other in a kiss. Murphy wrapped his arms around Emori’s waist, pulling her closer in the water as she put her arms around his neck and leant into him, afterwards resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Jasper paled, handing the tablet over to Monty, “Guys? We have a problem.” </p><p>From the driver’s seat, Clarke frowned, looking at them in the mirror and trying to gauge by the facial expression of Madi (who was unceremoniously squashed between them in the back of the car) what was happening. “Is this a ‘we’re out of food’ problem, or a ‘we’re going to die’ problem?” </p><p>“It’s a ‘we’ve been spotted by another tracer which means they might be onto our plan’ problem,” Monty replied, locking his eyes onto hers through the mirror in concern. </p><p>Finn groaned, “I hate those problems.” </p><p>“What’s the worst that could happen?” Madi shrugged. “Not like we didn’t kick ass with the last guy. I mean, after you rescued me.” </p><p>“We kick ass as and when we have to,” Clarke replied. “We can’t just attack every skip tracer we come across, however much they might deserve it. What’s the user?” </p><p>Monty clicked on the profile and the most recent posts, “Goes by ‘Lady Jane’. Heard of her? She seems to be mainly after people with big bounties on their head.”</p><p>“Like?” Finn pressed. </p><p>“Clarke, for one. Madi, since she’s like one of five remaining oranges. Some kid named Liam Stewart who could definitely give Clarke a run for her money, wow. Apparently he’s in the area as well,” Monty whistled. “Ex-Caledonia, the place that had the breakout not that long ago. Shit, I think he <em> masterminded </em>it.” </p><p>Clarke’s eyebrows shot up, “Wow. How much does he go for?” </p><p>“Two hundred and fifty thousand bucks,” Jasper answered, his voice full of disbelief. “That’s almost as impressive as Clarke’s two-seven-five.”</p><p>Finn choked in surprise, “Shit, Princess, what the hell did you do to bring in a price like that?” </p><p>Clarke sighed, “My mom works at Leda Corp. She has… she has friends in the tracer network. And money, and she wants me back.” </p><p>Madi blinked before announcing, “Well that’s terrifying.”</p><p>“Brutal, but impressive,” Jasper agreed. “And never going to happen. If she wants Clarke she’ll have to fight us for her.” </p><p>Clarke scoffed, “Oh, she would.” But she was warmed by his protectiveness. </p><p>“Good job we’ve got your back then, isn’t it,” Monty reached forwards and clapped her on the shoulder. “Right, now back to the fact that we’ve been spotted by Lady Jane. First problem; if she thinks she’s seen us she seems to be respected so I don’t doubt people will follow her. Second problem; if they’re following her they’re not following the trail we set, which means we have a problem. Third; she <em> could </em> be tailing us, in which case we’re screwed, and can’t post any fake reports because she’ll catch on. Four; under no circumstances can we lead her to East River.” </p><p>Finn groaned, “So we’re on our own?” </p><p>“Pretty much.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. We Ain't Guiltless</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Raven starts a project and two groups merge.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm going to try and update this story twice a month? Motivation is running low but I am attempting it lol.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Raven knocked on the door of the small room that housed the two boys. After the lack of response, she tried again, and a boy that was all limbs and odd angles, with a compass hanging around his neck and a mop of unruly hair on his head answered the door with a smile. “Hi, I’m Jude.” </p><p>“Raven Reyes,” she replied. “Is that Nicolas Ramirez?”</p><p>Jude nodded, sitting down next to Nicolas and began tapping him until he took off his headphones and looked up from his laptop screen. “Nico? Someone’s here to see you.” </p><p>Nico narrowed his eyes at her, presumably trying to figure out what she wanted. “Why?”</p><p>“Because I need your help,” she replied. “I have a project involving the server that the tracers use, and I’ve been told you're the most familiar with it.” </p><p>“That’s true,” Nico nodded. “What did you have in mind?” </p><p>Raven sat down between the two boys, pulling down her hoodie sleeves to minimise skin-to-skin contact. She needed to be focused on Finn, not whatever was going on inside the minds of two teenage boys. “I need help tracking down an individual device that’s uploading information to the skip tracer server. Think you can handle it?” </p><p>Nico rolled his eyes, “I think I can handle it. Which user?”</p><p>“The one that keeps uploading data on Finn Collins,” she clarified.</p><p>He frowned, “Which one?” </p><p>“What do you mean ‘which one’? There’s several recent updates following Finn across the country, all made by the same person,” Raven retrieved the laptop from him and stared at her. “Fuck. It didn’t work, they’ve been sighted.” </p><p>Jude looked at Nico, “What’s happened?” </p><p>Raven cut in to explain, “They got hold of tracer login credentials, and had been posting false reports about themselves to lead any suspecting tracers in the opposite direction than the one they’re travelling in, but someone’s logged a report that goes against what they’ve been trying to sell. It proves that the other reports are fake, because this one is made by a well-recognised user. If any other tracer sees the report they’ll know instantly.” </p><p>“What do we do?” Jude asked, bouncing his leg. </p><p>Raven went quiet, deep in thought, but the silence was broken by Nico as he made a suggestion. “I have an idea. It’ll take a lot of manpower, but it could save your friends. And if it works well, then it won’t save <em> just </em> them— it could help every kid out there.” </p><p>“Don’t just sit there,” she turned to him. “Hit me with it.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Madi was a welcome addition to the group, that much was certain. What they didn’t expect was to end up with three more members of their newfound family so soon, which is exactly what happened when they spotted two guys and a girl having car trouble and pulled over to help them out. </p><p>“You guys need a hand?” Jasper shouted, rolling down the window. </p><p>Octavia’s head popped up from behind the car, which was entirely on its side. One of the tyres had come off completely, lying alongside the vehicle, and the other was slowly letting out air. Once Miller nodded to her and confirmed that they weren’t tracers, just kids, then she let out a sigh of relief. “This is why we don’t trust Miller to drive. He’s too busy making damn heart eyes at his boyfriend.” </p><p>“I’ll keep that in mind,” Clarke laughed as the car stopped. She turned off the ignition and climbed out, surveying the damage to the other car. “Are you guys okay? We have a first aid kit and med supplies.” </p><p>“Apart from an old bullet graze, we’re doing alright,” Mike spoke up, waving to the newcomers. </p><p>Finn hopped out of the car and winced, regretting his quick movement. He grinned at Mike, “Gunshot wound, you say? Twins!”</p><p>Miller rolled his eyes. “Where you headed?” </p><p>“East River,” Madi stuck her head out of the rear passenger’s door. </p><p>“Well I’ll be damned,” Miller whistled. “You know where you’re going?” </p><p>Monty bumped Jasper’s arm, “That we do. You guys need a ride? I’m Monty, and this is Jasper.”</p><p>“Clarke,” Clarke smiled, before pointing to the others. “Finn and Madi.”  </p><p>Octavia raised an eyebrow, “I don’t mean to be <em> that </em> person, but we won’t all fit. Also, colours?” </p><p>Finn pointed to himself and then Clarke, “We’re both blues, Monty and Jasper are greens, and Madi’s…” he trailed off, wondering if they could trust the trio or not. Madi nodded slowly, letting him continue, but when he made no move to, she said it herself. </p><p>“Orange.” </p><p>Mike sucked in a breath, “Really? Never met an orange before, there weren’t any at Caledonia.”</p><p>Jasper’s eyebrows shot up, “Caledonia? As in the place with the breakout?” </p><p>Miller winked, “It appears our reputation precedes us, Mikey.” </p><p>“Not me,” Octavia clarified. “I wasn’t part of the Caledonia lot.”</p><p>Monty pulled out the tablet, searching them up. “You’re unregistered,” he realised. “Sort of. They have a blurry photo and an ID number, but they haven’t managed to tag it to a name yet. You two are low-profile, low-reward.”</p><p>“I don’t know whether to be relieved or offended,” Mike joked, nudging Miller’s shoulder. His boyfriend simply rolled his eyes in response, but he smiled all the while.  </p><p>Octavia moved towards Monty cautiously, “You have a tracer ID?” </p><p>“Nabbed it off some jackass Emerson when we picked up Madi. Been using it to cover our tracks,” he explained. </p><p>She waited a moment thinking over her options before asking, “Bellamy Blake. Can you search for Bellamy Blake?” </p><p>Without asking any follow-up questions, Monty nodded. He typed it in and frowned at the results. “That’s… weird.” </p><p>“What’s weird?” Octavia moved to peer over his shoulder in concern. </p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>BELLAMY BLAKE, RED, IN CUSTODY</p>
  <p>LOCATION: MOUNT WEATHER.</p>
</blockquote><p> </p><p>“Mount Weather. I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t think it was one of the military bases that got turned into a camp, that’s all. Besides, it’s all underground— literally inside a mountain— so why would they want a load of Psi kids in close quarters in a space like that?” Monty put the tablet away. “Doesn’t make sense.” </p><p>“Maybe the Slip Kid will know more about it?” Finn suggested. “I mean, from what I’ve heard, he’s helped reunite kids with their families. Maybe he knows more about Mount Weather?” </p><p>Octavia nodded, “Sooner we find him, sooner I find my brother.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Murphy looked over at Emori as he drove, periodically checking the mirrors to make sure that they weren’t being followed. That was the perks of driving at weird times of the night— the roads were almost completely empty. She was spinning the flash drive on her necklace around in her fingers, flicking the catch over the USB port on and off, deep in thought. </p><p>“Kind of sucks that we can’t go to Disneyland or something without getting caught by tracers,” he broke the silence. “Apparently my dad took me when I was little, but I don’t remember it. Have you been?” </p><p>“No, but I’d like to, when this is all over,” Emori sighed. <em> “If </em> this is ever over.” </p><p>“So what’s on it?” He nodded to her necklace.</p><p>“My heart,” Emori teased.</p><p>Murphy raised an eyebrow, “Your <em> heart </em> is on a flash drive?”</p><p>“Do you have to be so literal, John?” She laughed. “Just memories and stuff. Good things. Things I don’t want to forget, I guess.” </p><p>“Fair enough,” he nodded. “You think I’ll ever end up on there?” </p><p>A smile teased her lips as she looked back out the window. “Maybe. If you’re lucky.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>They set up camp for the night in a forest. There weren’t any tents or camping equipment but the car door was left open for someone to stay on the backseat and the same with the trunk. and it wasn’t as cold as it could have been. Monty and Jasper had already managed to get pretty attached to Octavia, and they’d fallen asleep in a pile of sorts in the trunk, huddled together for warmth underneath a jacket that Finn had in there. </p><p>As for Finn himself, who had gladly given up the car for other people to sleep in, he was sitting on watch opposite Clarke around the small fire. Despite her constant worrying that he should be <em> asleep, </em> not on watch, because he was <em> shot </em> not too long ago, he refused to let her take the first shift alone. </p><p>Miller and Mike were curled around each other on the floor nearby, with Mike’s head on Miller’s chest and Miller’s arm around him protectively. Madi had fallen asleep against Clarke in front of the fire, and Clarke watched over her, occasionally running a hand through the younger girl’s hair comfortingly when she flinched in her sleep. </p><p>“What do we do? When we get to East River?” Clarke asked after a long period of silence. “This ‘Slip Kid’ helps reunite kids with their families. My dad’s dead, it’s my mom’s fault, and she won’t stop until she has me again so that’s out of the question. Do we just stay there forever?” </p><p>Finn sighed, “I don’t know. I want the Slip Kid’s help in finding my friend. I don’t know where she is, but she’s in danger. She’s an orange, like Madi.” </p><p>“There aren’t many of those around, so that should definitely give him an incentive to help you,” she pointed out. “I think Miller and Mike just want to be safe, from what I’ve noticed, and Jasper and Monty want to stop having to look over their shoulders all the damn time. Octavia just wants to find her brother, and Madi wants a family. I don’t know what I want. I wish I did.” </p><p>“You don’t have to know what you want yet,” Finn pointed out. “The rest of us are just making it up as we go along. Don’t die, don’t get sent to a camp. That’s all there is to it.”</p><p>Clarke let out a quiet laugh. “That’s it? That’s your life motto?” </p><p>“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” he shrugged. “But East River could be normal. Well, as normal as it gets. Who says you have to figure it out already?”</p><p>“I don’t like not knowing what to do,” she replied with a sigh. “Unfortunately, that’s one of the things I got from my mother.” </p><p>“Along with her medical skills?” Finn raised an eyebrow. </p><p>“Yeah, those too,” she admitted. “That’s probably the one decent thing she’s taught me.” </p><p>“Thanks, by the way,” he gestured to where his bullet wound was. “Didn’t think I’d bite the bullet this soon.” </p><p>She snorted, “Was that an attempt at a joke?” </p><p>“It was an attempt at making you laugh— and it worked,” he pointed out with a grin. </p><p>Clarke rolled her eyes. “Alright, you got me on that one.” </p><p>• • 𝚿 • •</p><p>Cole was exactly where Raven expected him to be. He was taking the protective wraps off from around his hands when she walked in, bright and determined. He hesitated when she arrived. “Train?” </p><p>“Physical or mental?” </p><p>“Physical?” He glanced at her, “You look like you want to let off some steam, but in a good way?” </p><p>Raven shrugged, “A couple of us worked together to flood the tracer server with false reports using a virus that Nico coded. Crashed the whole thing, it’ll be at least a few days until they get it up and running again.” </p><p>He tossed her a wrap for her hands. “I’m impressed, Reyes. Who’s idea was it? Or did you need to do your little jedi mind trick?” </p><p>She stared at him in surprise, “Cole Stewart, are you a secret <em> nerd?” </em></p><p>“Shut up and fight me, Raven,” he rolled his eyes and fixed his wraps before raising his fists. “Hey, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” </p><p>“Well go ahead then, as long as you’re not distracted,” she smirked, throwing a punch that he ducked effortlessly, before returning the favour. Raven blocked it and the two began to circle each other on the training mat. </p><p>“I’m going on an Op,” Cole revealed. “In three days. They’ve already set everything up.” </p><p>“Interesting,” she noted. “Can I get details?” </p><p>He shook his head. “Classified, darlin’.” </p><p>“What if I used my ‘jedi mind trick’?” She suggested with a laugh, using his phrase from a minute or so earlier. “Is it still classified then?” </p><p>“I’ll be away for a couple of months at least,” he added, ignoring her questions. “So obviously no training.” </p><p>“Well that sucks,” she frowned. “You and Harper are the only people that can keep up with me.” </p><p>“McIntyre’s still going to be here,” Cole pointed out. “But I do have a friend who you might be interested in sparring with. She does have a little bit of a thing against oranges though, so don’t bring that up yet.” </p><p>“Really? You’re setting me up with someone who’s going to hate me straight off the bat?” Raven asked sceptically. “Some friend you are.” </p><p>“Vida’s sharp, but I think you’ll like her. You two have a lot in common. Her team involves Sunshine and Ramirez.” </p><p>She considered it for a second, “And she’s your friend?” </p><p>“Friend is a bit of a stretch,” he admitted. “I don’t think she likes me very much. But she seems like she’d be a good match for you. Similar height and built, similar offensive strategies, you both need to work on your defence… It’d be good for you.” </p><p>“Good for me? Who are you, my therapist?” Raven snorted, ducking his fist as it came towards her and springing back up to land a punch to his gut. Cole stumbled backwards, nodding in approval before catching her leg with his foot and sweeping it out from underneath, pinning Raven to the mat. </p><p>She raised an eyebrow at him before pushing off and rolling on top, holding him in place. “Tap out?” </p><p>“Not likely,” he replied, flipping them over again. “You?” </p><p>“Hell no,” she answered, bringing her knee up and pushing him off, flipping onto her feet at the same time as Cole and bringing her fists up again. </p><p>The door swung open and a girl with blue hair hovered in the doorway, watching them with an amused expression. “Hey Golden Boy, can I tag in?”</p><p>“Sure,” he picked up a towel and swung it over his shoulder, “See you, Reyes.” </p><p>The blue-haired girl stepped in his way, “I meant with you, not the newbie.” </p><p>“Who are you calling ‘newbie’?” Raven scoffed. “I’m as good as Stewart.” </p><p>“Unlikely,” she replied. “He’s a fan-favourite with half the people in this place. Can’t imagine why.” </p><p>“Oh, Vida I’m <em> flattered,” </em> Cole laughed. “Seriously, spar with Raven.” </p><p>“Wait,” Raven looked between them. “This is the girl you want me to train with while you’re gone?”</p><p>“You want me to train with her? Why the hell would you suggest that?” Vida stared at him. </p><p>Cole raised his hands in surrender and backed out of the room. “It’s an even match.” </p><p>Vida and Raven watched each other for a moment, practically mirroring each other’s movements as they folded their arms and scanned each other up and down. Raven took in Vida’s blue-hair and sharp expression as the other girl tried to gauge how good of a fighter and what colour she was. Funnily enough, the colour didn’t come up. </p><p>Before she had a chance to leave, Raven tossed Vida a pair of wraps and nodded at the training mat. </p><p>She sighed, “Fine, Reyes. Not like I’ve got anything better to do.”</p>
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